Lila Sciences is an American autonomous AI-for-science company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 2023 by Geoffrey von Maltzahn (Flagship Pioneering general partner and serial biotech entrepreneur) and other founding-team members from Flagship Pioneering, the Cambridge-based biotech venture-creation firm. Lila Sciences explicitly positions itself as building autonomous AI scientists with end-to-end laboratory-experiment-execution capability, distinguishing itself from peer biology-AI labs through autonomous physical-laboratory infrastructure. As of April 2026, Lila Sciences is one of the principal commercial autonomous-AI-for-science startups, with a $200 million Series A in March 2025 led by ARCH Venture Partners and other investors at approximately $1.3 billion valuation.
At a glance
- Founded: 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Geoffrey von Maltzahn and other Flagship Pioneering team members.
- Status: Private. Series A in March 2025 at approximately $1.3 billion valuation.
- Funding: Approximately $550 million cumulative private capital across two disclosed rounds. Most recent: October 2025 Series A extension of $115 million bringing the total Series A to $350 million at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation. Preceded by a March 2025 Seed of $200 million led by Flagship Pioneering. Notable investors include Flagship Pioneering, General Catalyst, March Capital, NVentures, Braidwell, and Collective Global.
- CEO: Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Flagship Pioneering general partner and serial biotech entrepreneur.
- Other notable leadership: Senior research and engineering leadership across the autonomous-laboratory program.
- Open weights: Limited. Lila Sciences develops commercial autonomous AI-for-science technology rather than open-research output.
- Flagship outputs: Autonomous AI scientists with end-to-end laboratory-experiment-execution capability; autonomous-laboratory infrastructure; continued commercial-development through 2024 to 2026.
Origins
Lila Sciences was founded in 2023 by Geoffrey von Maltzahn and other founding-team members from Flagship Pioneering, the Cambridge-based biotech venture-creation firm with history founding Moderna, Foghorn Therapeutics, and other biotech ventures. The founding thesis was explicitly oriented around autonomous AI scientists with end-to-end laboratory-experiment-execution capability, distinguishing the company from peer biology-AI labs through autonomous physical-laboratory infrastructure.
The 2023 to 2024 stealth period built autonomous-laboratory infrastructure and AI-system research. The March 2025 Series A of $200 million at approximately $1.3 billion valuation, led by ARCH Venture Partners with Flagship Pioneering, General Catalyst, and other participants, was the company's most consequential public-facing transition.
The 2025 to 2026 period has continued autonomous-laboratory research and commercial-product development.
Mission and strategy
Lila Sciences's mission is to build autonomous AI scientists with end-to-end laboratory-experiment-execution capability for biology research applications. The strategy combines three threads. First, the AI-system research for autonomous experimental design and analysis. Second, the autonomous-laboratory infrastructure with end-to-end experimental-execution capability. Third, commercial-development relationships with Flagship Pioneering portfolio companies and other biotech partners.
The competitive premise reflects Lila Sciences's distinct positioning combining autonomous-AI research with autonomous-laboratory infrastructure, distinguishing the company from peer biology-AI software-only startups.
Distribution channels include direct commercial-development relationships with Flagship Pioneering portfolio companies and other biotech partners.
Models and products
- Autonomous AI scientists. End-to-end laboratory-experiment-execution capability.
- Autonomous-laboratory infrastructure. Physical-laboratory infrastructure for autonomous experimental execution.
- Continued commercial-development. Through 2024 to 2026.
Distribution channels include direct commercial-development relationships.
Benchmarks and standing
Lila Sciences's evaluation framework focuses on autonomous-laboratory experimental-throughput and commercial-development metrics rather than horizontal foundation-model leaderboards. The autonomous-laboratory infrastructure has been characterized in AI-for-science industry coverage as a distinctive autonomous-AI approach.
Leadership
As of April 2026, Lila Sciences's senior leadership includes:
- Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Flagship Pioneering general partner.
- Senior research and engineering leadership across the autonomous-laboratory program.
Funding and backers
- Seed (March 2025): $200 million led by Flagship Pioneering with General Catalyst, March Capital, ARK Venture Fund, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Blue Horizon Advisors, State of Michigan Retirement System, Modi Ventures, and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participating.
- Series A (September 2025): $235 million at a $1.2 billion post-money valuation, led by Braidwell and Collective Global with continued strategic and venture-investor participation.
- Series A extension (October 2025): $115 million additional, raising the total Series A to $350 million and the post-money valuation to more than $1.3 billion. The extension brought in NVentures (NVIDIA), IQT, Dauntless Ventures, Catalio Capital Management, and others.
Cumulative capital approximately $550 million across the two disclosed rounds as of April 2026.
Industry position
Lila Sciences occupies a distinctive position as one of the principal commercial autonomous-AI-for-science startups, with the autonomous-laboratory infrastructure, the Flagship Pioneering venture-creation backing, and ARCH Venture Partners Series A backing.
Competitive landscape
- FutureHouse. Direct nonprofit AI-for-science peer with different open-research positioning.
- Isomorphic Labs, EvolutionaryScale, Inceptive, Hippocratic AI. Biology-AI peers.
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Insitro, Schrödinger, Generate Biomedicines. Biology-AI peers with different drug-discovery focus.
- Flagship Pioneering. Founder organization. Flagship-portfolio cooperation.
Outlook
- The continued autonomous-laboratory infrastructure scale-out through 2026 to 2027.
- Continued commercial-development with Flagship Pioneering portfolio companies.
- The Series B or adjacent fundraising timeline.
Sources
- Lila Sciences official site. Company reference.
- Lila Sciences Series A announcement. March 2025 funding announcement.
- Flagship Pioneering. Founder organization.
- ARCH Venture Partners. Lead Series A investor.
- Geoffrey von Maltzahn LinkedIn. Co-Founder reference.
