OpenEvidence raises $250M at $15B, pivots into drug development
What's the deal? OpenEvidence, the AI clinical search company, has raised $250 million in a late-stage round at US$9.71B valuation, led by a16z and Byers CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The company disclosed the raise in a single sentence appended to a partnership announcement — a quiet reveal for a round of this size.
Why the muted rollout? The context matters. In January, OpenEvidence raised $250 million at US$7.76B valuation with a press release and a CNBCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → appearance for chief executive officer Daniel Nadler. In July, The Information reported it was weighing $200 million at $20 billion but was unlikely to proceed. Against those markers, September'US$11B reads as either a step up or a haircut — and the silence hints at the latter.
What's the endgame? OpenEvidence is entering drug development. Nadler told Forbes the company plans to develop its own oncology therapies, with a first drug entering clinical trials before year-end and another three to five candidates next year, starting with rare cancers.
The strategy: Rather than compete with LillyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → or PfizerDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → on large trials, OpenEvidence will target "the stuff that they are not doing, and maybe can't do." Nadler's bet is that reaching most US physicians makes it easier to recruit the handful of patients a rare-disease trial needs.
The raise landed alongside a partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering. MSK is integrating OpenEvidence into its EpicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → workflows — 70% of its faculty already used the tool — while OpenEvidence distributes MSK's OncoKB precision oncology database to clinicians elsewhere.
By the numbers: The round ranks near the top of its class, sitting in the 98th percentile of all-time late-stage venture rounds for US health companies, based on a sample of 1,993 deals.
What could go wrong? Competition is compounding. Doximity's latest earnings call showed AI search queries up 25% quarter-over-quarter and Scribe users up tenfold in July. MSK itself is one of eight organisations piloting OpenAI's enterprise tools — a reminder that health systems have options.
The signal: Companies with clear momentum rarely take money below a valuation floated two months earlier, then pivot into drug development in the same breath. The generous read is that Nadler sees a rare-disease recruiting edge pharma can't match. The less generous read is that ad-supported clinical search is hitting a ceiling, and AI drug discovery is the more compelling story to sell.
Read more: digitalhealthwire.com
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