Medra
Category: AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery
Medra builds Physical AI Scientists — AI-programmed general-purpose robots that autonomously run biological experiments to accelerate drug discovery. Medra was founded in 2021. The company is led by Michelle Lee. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $63M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include Human Capital (lead, Series A), Lux Capital, Neo, NFDG, Catalio Capital Management, Menlo Ventures, 776, Fusion Fund, Box Group.
- Founded
- 2021
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, USA
- Team size
- 11-50
- Total funding
- $63M
Value proposition
Combines Scientific AI (hypothesis generation, experiment design, results interpretation) with Physical AI robots that autonomously execute lab experiments at human-level flexibility and machine-level scale, closing the loop between reasoning and physical experimentation in biopharma R&D.
Products and solutions
Physical AI Scientist platform (Scientific AI + Physical AI robotics), AI Experimentalist (scientific reasoning layer), Medra Lab 001 (ML001) - 38,000 sq ft autonomous lab in San Francisco, robotic systems for life science data collection and experiment automation
Unique value
First company to tightly integrate reasoning AI with physical robotic experimentation, enabling truly closed-loop autonomous science rather than just software-based hypothesis generation.
Target customer
Biopharma and life sciences companies (drug discovery R&D teams)
Industries served
AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery, Robotics / Embodied AI
Technology advantage
Proprietary integration of general-purpose robotics, computer vision, and natural language AI to automate ~70% of common lab workflows; building one of the largest autonomous biology labs in the US; closed-loop data generation (most labs only record successful outcomes, limiting AI training data — Medra captures full experimental data).
How they differentiate
Focuses on general-purpose robots that combine AI reasoning with physical lab execution (vs. cloud-lab remote-access models or narrow single-task lab robots), aiming for full autonomy across the experimentation lifecycle.
Main competitors
Emerald Cloud Lab, Transcriptic, Automata (lab automation robotics)
Key partnerships
Genentech, Cultivarium, Addition Therapeutics, Genesis Mission Consortium member, DARPA, NVIDIA (BioNeMo / Nemotron)
Notable customers
Genentech, Cultivarium, Addition Therapeutics
Major milestones
2021/2022: Founded by Michelle Lee, Sept 2025: Emerged from stealth; announced $11M pre-seed/seed, Dec 2025: Raised $52M Series A (Human Capital), Apr 2026: Opened Medra Lab 001 (38,000 sq ft, built in ~77 days), Jun 2026: Launched AI Experimentalist; announced DARPA collaboration
Growth metrics
Five paid installations across the United States as of late 2025; opened 38,000 sq ft autonomous Lab 001 in San Francisco
Market positioning
Category-defining 'Physical AI Scientist' player in the emerging autonomous/self-driving lab space for biopharma R&D.
Geographic focus
United States (San Francisco Bay Area hub), biopharma partnerships nationally
Patents and IP
US20240326243A1 (pending) — Automation system for performing lab protocols; inventors Michelle A. Lee et al.; assignee Medra Inc.; priority 2023-03-31, pub. 2024-10-03
About Michelle Lee
PhD Robotics, Stanford AI Lab (2018-2021); robotics research at NVIDIA; propulsion at SpaceX; McKinsey; assistant professor CS/ECE at NYU before founding Medra. First-time CEO/founder.
Latest news about Medra
More AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery companies
Official website: https://www.medra.ai
