Proximal Ventures Secures $27.5M First Fund to Back AI-Driven Drug Development Startups

Proximal Ventures announced the close of its inaugural fund with $27.5 million in commitments, positioning the firm to back startups that apply artificial intelligence to the drug development ecosystem. The fund’s launch comes at a time when venture capital fundraising is unusually difficult for first-time managers, underscoring the confidence limited partners placed in founder-operator Sahir Raoof’s vision for AI-enabled pharmaceutical services.

Raoof’s ability to attract capital stems from a career that blends venture investing with hands-on experience in health-tech. He spent two years as a principal at SignalFire before leading business development at clinical-trial recruitment startup Iterative Health and overseeing partnerships at Flatiron Health, the oncology data platform acquired by Roche for $1.9 billion in 2018. Those roles gave him deep exposure to the pain points of life-science companies and a network of industry contacts that proved persuasive to investors.

The fund’s thesis challenges a long-standing assumption that pharma is a poor buyer of software but a strong buyer of services. Raoof argues that artificial intelligence can automate many service-oriented tasks, such as compound synthesis planning, manufacturing scale-up, and clinical-trial data analysis, allowing providers to deliver the same outcomes faster and at lower cost. He points to the rapid adoption of AI in law and finance as a precedent for similar disruption in pharmaceutical services, where billions of dollars of spend could be reallocated to more efficient, AI-driven solutions.

Proximal plans to deploy capital at the pre-seed and seed stages, writing checks ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million. To date the firm has backed seven companies, including ChronicleBio, a startup co-founded by former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo. ChronicleBio leverages AI to parse biological and medical data, aiming to improve understanding of chronic diseases and surface new therapeutic candidates. The early-stage focus reflects Raoof’s belief that the most valuable breakthroughs will emerge from founders who can embed AI into the foundational workflows of drug discovery and development.

The limited-partner roster features a mix of institutional and individual investors. Venture firms SignalFire and Kleiner Perkins, as well as Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, committed capital alongside Dimension Capital co-founders Nan Li and Zavain Dar. Amy Abernethy, co-founder of Highlander Health and former principal deputy commissioner of the FDA, also invested after working with Raoof at Flatiron Health. Abernethy highlighted Raoof’s talent for building relationships and identifying bottlenecks in the healthcare market as key reasons for her support.

Looking ahead, Proximal’s capital could accelerate the emergence of AI tools that reshape how pharmaceutical companies outsource critical functions. For founders, the fund offers not only early financing but also access to Raoof’s extensive network of potential customers and partners in the life-science sector. The broader industry will be watching to see whether AI-driven service models can capture a meaningful share of the multi-billion-dollar pharma services market, and how quickly traditional service providers will adapt to the new competitive landscape.