Radical Numerics Inc. launched publicly with $50 million in seed funding, advancing what it calls general biological intelligence.
The firm is led by the team behind Evo, the first AI model capable of reading and writing DNA at scale. External researchers previously used Evo to generate the first complete AI-designed genome for a harmless bacteriophage.
Radical Numerics is now building multimodal systems that analyze DNA, RNA, and proteins simultaneously. The company argues that fusing these separate biological strands unlocks paths to sensitive cancer diagnostics and drug target identification that single-modality systems miss.
Alongside the launch, the company previewed its next-generation genomic language model, Omnii. Early results show the model identifies causal regulatory variants with high accuracy and detects AI-manipulated pathogens without specific prior training.
The dual-use nature of the technology is central to the company’s strategy. Radical Numerics is working with a cancer diagnostics firm on pancreatic and multi-cancer detection while collaborating with a national laboratory to characterize both natural and engineered pathogens.
“The same models that can help cure disease may also lower the barrier to designing harmful biology,” said CEO Eric Nguyen. “These forces are inseparable. Biology will be the most consequential application of AI.”
The founding team includes Chief AI Scientist Michael Poli, President Stefano Massaroli, and CTO Armin Thomas. Scientific advisers comprise Microsoft Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz, Stanford’s Chris Ré, Harvard geneticist George Church, and former U.S. defense official Andrew Weber.
Emergence Capital led the seed round, with participation from Obvious Ventures, Triatomic Capital, Factory, and First Spark Ventures.