Emerald AI, a San Francisco startup founded by former Google Brain researchers, has raised $340 million in Series B funding to build fully autonomous scientific research laboratories. The company's platform combines robotic lab equipment with AI systems that can design experiments, execute them, analyze results, and iteratively refine hypotheses without human intervention.
The company has already demonstrated its technology in drug discovery, where its AI-driven lab identified three promising antibiotic candidates in just six weeks, a process that traditionally takes 12 to 18 months. Emerald plans to open its first commercial facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts by early 2027.
