First‑Time VC Proximal Raises $27.5 Million to Fund AI‑Powered Pharma Services

In a climate where new venture funds struggle to raise capital, Sahir Raoof closed $27.5 million for Proximal Ventures, his first solo fund. The money comes at a time when investors are cautious, making the deal a surprise. Raoof says the key lies in AI’s ability to automate the services that keep drug development moving.

If AI can cut cost and speed, it could unlock billions of dollars in pharma spending. Pharmaceutical companies have long outsourced stages of drug development to specialized providers, from synthesizing compounds to analyzing trial data. Traditionally, pharma has been a poor buyer of software but a strong buyer of services.

AI could replace much of that work, delivering the same output at lower cost and faster turnaround. The consequence is a new market where startups can compete with established service firms. Proximal plans to invest $500,000 to $1.5 million in pre‑seed and seed‑stage companies. It has already backed six startups, including ChronicleBio, which uses AI to sift through biological data and spot potential treatments for chronic diseases.

The mechanism is simple: machine learning models parse vast datasets to identify patterns that humans miss.

The result is faster hypothesis generation and reduced research time.

Raoof’s background fuels the fund’s promise.

He was a principal at SignalFire, led business development at Iterative Health, and oversaw partnerships at Flatiron Health, which Roche bought for $1.9 billion.

These roles gave him deep industry relationships and a knack for spotting bottlenecks.

Our read: those connections may help Proximal’s portfolio companies land customers faster than typical early‑stage firms.

Proximal’s backers include SignalFire, Kleiner Perkins, Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, and individual investors such as Nan Li and Zavain Dar.

The fund’s success will hinge on whether AI can truly replace human expertise in drug development.

If it does, the industry could see a dramatic shift in how services are priced and delivered.

Watch Proximal’s next investments to gauge whether AI can rewrite pharma’s cost structure.