What Blank Bio does

Blank Bio is an applied AI research company developing RNA foundation models for precision oncology. The company trains foundation models on bulk RNA-seq data — including high-resolution PacBio HiFi long-read sequencing — to capture molecular signals that standard per-gene count pipelines discard, such as isoform architecture and patient-specific tumor biology. Its core product platform centers on these RNA foundation models, supplemented by application modules for disease trajectory modeling (prognostic biomarkers enabling covariate-adjusted trial design) and patient selection (predictive biomarkers identifying likely responders and emerging resistance mechanisms). The company also publishes research artifacts, including the mRNABench benchmarking suite (10 datasets, 59 tasks) and the Orthrus+MLM model (~10M parameter Mamba-based architecture combining contrastive learning with masked language modeling), with prior academic work (Orthrus) published in Nature Methods.

Blank Bio operates a B2B, sales-led go-to-market targeting pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies. Revenue mechanics are not publicly disclosed but are characterized as a partnership/licensing-royalty model: the company works with pharma teams on clinical trial design, patient stratification, and biomarker development, with an early access program accessed via direct email outreach to [email protected]. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and no customer logos, ARR, or contract values are available in the source material.

The company was founded in 2025 and is headquartered in San Francisco. In May 2026 it closed a $7.2 million oversubscribed seed round co-led by Define Ventures, Leonis Capital, SignalFire, and Y Combinator, with participation from Nova Threshold and Ripple Ventures. Concurrently it announced a strategic collaboration with Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) to generate long-read RNA-seq data from up to 100 fresh frozen patient tumor samples (sequenced at Seattle Children's Research Institute using SPTLabtech firefly+ automation). The team is led by CEO and Co-Founder Jonathan Hsu and includes AI scientists and engineers from Recursion, Deep Genomics, DeepMind, and Amazon, and researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Stanford, and the Vector Institute, with publications in Nature Methods, Nature Genetics, Nature Biotechnology, ICML, and NeurIPS.

Name

Blank Bio

Legal name

Blank Bio

Website

https://blank.bio

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Blank Bio builds RNA foundation models that analyze tumor transcriptomes for patient-level prediction in oncology. The company partners with pharmaceutical and diagnostic firms to support clinical trial design, patient stratification, and biomarker discovery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Oncology AI

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

RNA Therapeutics Platforms & Design (sequence design, target ID/validation, AI/bioinformatics) (HLAAADAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

RNA Therapeutics Clinical Development (trial design, endpoints, patient stratification) (HLAAADAH), Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software (HLAGAJAD)

Keywords

• RNA foundation models
• Precision oncology AI
• Biomarker discovery
• Clinical trial analytics
• Bulk RNA sequencing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Pharma Partnership Model: Blank Bio partners with pharmaceutical companies to provide predictive and prognostic biomarkers for clinical trial design. Revenue likely comes from research collaborations, biomarker development partnerships, and potentially licensing of models or data.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Blank Bio is an applied AI research lab building RNA foundation models trained on bulk RNA-seq data to capture molecular complexity in tumor transcriptomes (including isoform architecture and patient-specific tumor biology signals). The models support two core applications: disease trajectory modeling, which produces prognostic biomarkers for clinical trial design, and patient selection, which identifies likely therapy responders and emerging resistance mechanisms for pharmaceutical clinical development.

Product overview

Blank Bio is an applied AI research lab offering RNA foundation models as its core product platform. The models learn directly from the molecular complexity of tumor transcriptomes (bulk RNA-seq) to improve patient-level prediction across oncology. The company also develops specialized applications including Disease Trajectory Modeling (prognostic biomarkers) and Patient Selection (predictive biomarkers). Research tools include mRNABench (a benchmarking suite) and Orthrus+MLM (a compact foundation model). All offerings support pharmaceutical companies in making better clinical development decisions, designing more efficient trials, and increasing the odds of therapeutic success.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RNA Foundation Models Applied AI foundation models trained on bulk RNA-seq data that capture molecular complexity (isoform architecture, mutational complexity, patient-specific tumor biology signals) to predict disease progression and treatment response for pharmaceutical precision oncology applications. Sold to pharma and diagnostic partners via direct sales and early access program.
• Disease Trajectory Modeling Prognostic biomarker application that predicts how a patient's disease is likely to progress over time using their molecular profile. RNA prognostic scores enable covariate adjustment to help clinical development teams design trials that reach statistical power with fewer patients. Sold to pharmaceutical companies for clinical trial design.
• Patient Selection Predictive biomarker application that characterizes biological differences between patients to identify those most likely to respond to a given therapy, as well as emerging resistance mechanisms and potential combination strategies. Sold to pharmaceutical teams for clinical trial enrichment and combination strategy support.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced clinical trial size through covariate adjustment using RNA prognostic scores
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Pacific Biosciences (PacBio)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2026Strategic collaboration to advance RNA foundation models for precision oncology. Blank Bio will generate PacBio HiFi long-read RNA sequencing data from up to 100 fresh frozen patient tumor samples spanning multiple cancer indications. Sequencing is conducted at Seattle Children's Research Institute using Kinnex RNA libraries automated on SPTLabtech firefly+ platform. The data is used to further train and evaluate Blank Bio's foundation models for oncology applications including patient stratification, biomarker discovery, and clinical interpretation.
• Seattle Children's Research InstitutesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch institute where PacBio HiFi long-read RNA sequencing is conducted for Blank Bio's collaboration. Kinnex RNA libraries are automated on SPTLabtech firefly+ platform at this location.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Owkin: AI platform for clinical research and oncology that partners with pharma to improve trial design and patient stratification. Directly comparable to Blank Bio's disease trajectory and patient selection applications, though with broader multimodal data and a federated learning approach.
• Deep Genomics: AI-driven RNA therapeutics company using foundation models to predict RNA biology and identify drug targets. Most directly comparable to Blank Bio given its focus on RNA-centric AI, although Deep Genomics focuses on therapeutic development rather than clinical trial biomarker design.

Broad incumbents

• Foundation Medicine: Molecular diagnostics company owned by Roche that profiles tumors using DNA and RNA sequencing for clinical decision-making. Comparable as an RNA-seq-enabled diagnostics and pharma services platform, though operating at much larger scale with established reimbursement.
• Tempus Labs: AI-powered precision medicine company that analyzes multimodal clinical and molecular data (including RNA-seq) for oncology applications. Comparable in serving pharma with biomarker and patient stratification services, but at much greater scale across DNA, RNA, imaging, and clinical records.
• Insitro: Machine learning-driven drug discovery company with partnerships across multiple pharma companies. Comparable as an AI-bio platform serving pharma R&D, but focused on phenotypic screening and target discovery rather than RNA-seq analytics.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Large AI-for-drug-discovery incumbent combining high-throughput biology with machine learning. Comparable as a techbio platform serving pharma customers, though much broader in scope (target ID, phenotypic screening, chemistry) and substantially better capitalized.

Emerging players

• Cartesian Therapeutics: RNA cell therapy company developing mRNA-engineered cell therapies for autoimmune disease and cancer. Comparable as an RNA-focused emerging biotech but operates in therapeutics rather than AI/RNA-seq analytics.
• Strand Therapeutics: Programmable mRNA therapeutics company developing controllable gene expression medicines. Comparable as an RNA-focused emerging biotech leveraging computational biology, though therapeutic-oriented rather than analytics-focused like Blank Bio.

Others

• 10x Genomics: Provider of single-cell and spatial genomics tools that enable high-resolution transcriptomic profiling. Comparable as enabling infrastructure for RNA-based biological discovery, but supplies research tools rather than predictive models or pharma services.
• Pacific Biosciences (PacBio): Long-read sequencing technology provider and Blank Bio's strategic data partner. Comparable as the upstream sequencing platform enabling high-resolution RNA analysis, but operates in sequencing hardware/consumables rather than AI analytics or pharma services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/blankbio_
• GitHubgithub.com/morrislab
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blank-bio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors8 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Blank Bio