Proximal Ventures has closed its debut fund at $27.5 million, the firm announced, as it seeks to back startups applying artificial intelligence to drug development. The fund was raised by Sahir Raoof, a former investor at SignalFire, who founded the venture firm to target early-stage companies operating at the intersection of AI and pharmaceuticals. Proximal Ventures said the capital will be deployed toward startups working across the drug discovery and development pipeline, including areas such as target identification, molecular design and clinical trial optimization.
The close reflects continued investor appetite for AI-enabled biotech despite a broader slowdown in venture funding over the past two years. Raoof's background at SignalFire, which has backed a range of technology and healthcare companies, provides the firm with experience in both sectors it intends to bridge. Proximal Ventures did not disclose the identities of its limited partners or specify the number of investments it plans to make from the fund. The firm joins a growing field of venture vehicles betting that machine learning can reduce the cost and time required to bring new therapies to market, though the sector has yet to deliver a widely approved drug developed primarily through AI-driven methods.
Independent reporting synthesized from primary wires and global correspondents.