Manas AI: LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman's Next Big Bet
Reid Hoffman, the billionaire entrepreneur and investor best known for co-founding LinkedIn, is now setting his sights on a new frontier: using artificial intelligence to fight cancer. His latest venture, Manas AI, aims to accelerate drug discovery and improve cancer treatments by merging cutting-edge AI with advanced biomedical research.
A Legacy of Smart Investments
Hoffman made his fortune when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016. Beyond that, he has been a prolific investor in more than 80 tech startups, including Airbnb, Groupon, and Flickr. One of his most famous bets was his $37,500 investment in Facebook, which later turned into $111 million.
Now, he's entering the AI-driven healthcare space with Manas AI, co-founded with Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a Columbia University professor and author of The Emperor of All Maladies, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on cancer.
AI Meets Biomedicine
Manas AI is designed to bring AI-powered tools to leading drug researchers, helping them discover and develop new medicines more efficiently. The goal is to speed up the process of understanding how new drugs interact with the human body—an area where AI’s pattern recognition capabilities could make a significant impact.
Initially, Manas AI is focusing on aggressive cancers like breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Hoffman believes AI can transform drug discovery and ultimately improve survival rates.
"Most people have had friends, family members, etc., who’ve died from cancer or had serious cancer problems," Hoffman said in an interview with CNBC. "If we can make a huge difference on this, AI can be a force for good in humanity."
Funding and Microsoft Partnership
Manas AI has already raised $24.6 million in seed funding, with Hoffman leading the round alongside venture capital firm General Catalyst. The startup’s AI infrastructure will operate in Microsoft-owned data centers, aligning with Hoffman’s long-standing relationship with the tech giant.
A Booming AI Healthcare Market
Manas AI enters a healthcare AI sector that is seeing rapid growth. In 2024, investors poured $10.5 billion into 511 AI-driven healthcare startups, according to PitchBook. One of the biggest fundraisers, cancer screening AI startup Freenome, secured $254 million in a Series F round in early 2024.
The Future of AI-Driven Medicine
With only four employees, including Hoffman and Mukherjee, Manas AI is still in its early stages. But Hoffman sees it as a powerful bridge between AI and medicine. “It isn’t just the best of science, and it isn’t just the best of AI,” he said. “You need to put those two together.”
If successful, Manas AI could redefine how we approach cancer treatment and drug discovery, proving that AI’s next big impact might not just be in tech—but in saving lives.
