OpenBench
OpenBench is a US-based AI-driven drug discovery company that uses structure-based virtual screening to identify validated hit series for early-stage biotechs. The firm operates a fee-for-success model in which it funds upfront discovery costs and only charges upon delivery of compounds meeting client-defined criteria.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What OpenBench does
OpenBench, Inc. is a US-based, privately held AI-driven drug discovery company headquartered at 535 Mission Street, Floor 14, San Francisco. The company has operated since 2019 with a headcount of 1–10 employees and describes itself as the only fee-for-success contract research organization in drug discovery. Its core offering is an AI-enabled structure-based virtual screening platform that screens billions to trillions of compounds against client-provided or modeled target structures, with structural enablement spanning homology modeling, molecular dynamics, and AlphaFold2-based prediction for targets lacking crystal structures. The platform is positioned to drug first-in-class targets (over 50% of binding sites worked on reportedly have no specific small molecule prior art) and to prosecute challenging modalities such as allosteric sites and non-functional binding sites, with the company claiming a 90% success rate on commercial projects to date.
The business model is outcome-based: OpenBench funds all upfront discovery costs (virtual screening, compound acquisition, confirmatory assaying) and only charges a success fee upon delivery of validated hit series meeting predefined client criteria; clients purchase IP outright with no continuing royalty or milestone obligations. Standard engagement terms include 10-year exclusivity on purchased compounds and up to 5 years of flexible exclusivity on disease targets. Services are sold via direct partnership agreements, supplemented by a strategic CRO partnership with Concept Life Sciences (May 2026) for bundled chemistry/in-vitro delivery, an extended collaboration with Enamine for compound library access, and a Scientist.com marketplace listing. Customers span early-stage oncology and rare-disease biotechs (HemoShear, Tavros, OnKure, 858 Therapeutics, ORIC, Volastra, Related Sciences) and extend to mid-to-late stage biotechs (Brii Biosciences) and academic institutions (UNC Chapel Hill). The company is co-founded by James Yoder (CEO) and Jim Thompson (COO), with Lewis Martin, PhD serving as Chief Scientific Officer.
OpenBench firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OpenBench
- Legal name
- OpenBench, Inc.
- Website
- https://openbench.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- OpenBench is a US-based AI-driven drug discovery company that uses structure-based virtual screening to identify validated hit series for early-stage biotechs. The firm operates a fee-for-success model in which it funds upfront discovery costs and only charges upon delivery of compounds meeting client-defined criteria.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OpenBench industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Drug Discovery Services
- NAICS
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Drug Discovery (Target ID/Validation & Hit Discovery) (HLAIALAA)
Keywords
Where OpenBench is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
OpenBench business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Fee-for-Success Hit Discovery Services: OpenBench operates a success-based fee model where they fund all upfront discovery costs (virtual screening, hit acquisition, confirmatory assaying) and only charge clients when validated hit series meeting predefined criteria are delivered. Clients purchase IP outright upon project completion with no continuing obligation for milestones or royalties.
- Strategic Partnership Services: Partnership with Concept Life Sciences enables delivery of integrated drug discovery services combining OpenBench's AI virtual screening with medicinal chemistry and in-vitro testing, with success-based pricing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Outcome Based/ Performance | Pay-as-you-go | Fee-for-success model - only pay for validated hits |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
OpenBench product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OpenBench provides fee-for-success small molecule hit discovery services powered by an AI-enabled structure-based virtual screening platform that screens billions to trillions of compounds against client or modeled target structures. The company funds all upfront discovery costs and only charges clients upon delivery of validated, medicinal-chemistry-approved hit series meeting predefined success criteria, transferring compound IP outright with no royalties or milestones.
Product overview
OpenBench offers a single unified success-driven drug discovery service centered on its AI-enabled structure-based virtual screening platform. The platform screens billions to trillions of compounds virtually against client-provided or modeled target structures, delivering validated hit series within approximately six months. Under the fee-for-success model, OpenBench absorbs all upfront discovery costs and only charges upon delivery of validated hits meeting client-defined criteria. The company partners with clients' preferred CROs and assay systems rather than operating internal chemistry labs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- AI-Enabled Structure-Based Virtual Screening Platform (Fee-for-Success Hit Discovery) Success-driven hit discovery service in which OpenBench funds all upfront discovery costs and uses its AI-enabled structure-based virtual screening platform to screen billions to trillions of compounds against client-provided or modeled target structures, delivering validated, medicinal-chemistry-approved hit series only upon meeting predefined success criteria. Intended for biotech and pharmaceutical partners seeking early-stage drug discovery, hit identification, and entry points for medicinal chemistry programs.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% success rate on commercial projects completed to-date
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use OpenBench
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
OpenBench technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature5 records
OpenBench partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- Concept Life SciencescoreStrategic partnership to deliver success-based drug discovery services for early-stage biotech companies. Combines OpenBench's AI-based virtual screening platform with Concept Life Sciences' medicinal chemistry and in-vitro testing capabilities. Under the fee-for-success model, OpenBench funds all upfront discovery costs and charges only upon delivery of validated hit series. Collaboration aims to guide clients from target to validated hit series within six months.
- Brii BiosciencesmajorAI-driven collaboration leveraging OpenBench's proprietary structure-based AI platform for drug discovery. Brii Bio gains exclusive rights to new leads and access to OpenBench's screening technology to accelerate discovery efforts and advance proprietary technology for new discovery efforts.
- 858 TherapeuticsmajorCollaboration to discover small molecule inhibitors using OpenBench's structure-based machine learning platform. Focus initially on an undisclosed target nominated by 858 Therapeutics.
- ORIC PharmaceuticalsmajorCollaboration to apply OpenBench's success-driven discovery approach and structure-based machine learning platform to enrich early discovery efforts against an undisclosed target identified by ORIC's resistance platform to target cancer-specific vulnerabilities.
- OnKure TherapeuticsmajorOpenBench assigned a library of promising lead compounds to OnKure, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on novel precision medicines in oncology, to advance pursuit of an important precision oncology target.
- Related SciencesmajorSuccess-driven collaboration to leverage OpenBench's structure-based machine learning platform to find novel, potent chemical hit material for an initial high value target nominated by Related Sciences.
- Tavros TherapeuticscoreExpanded strategic collaboration to discover small molecule modulators of up to five oncology targets across an initial 18-month term. Tavros is a precision oncology platform company exploiting tumors' genetic vulnerabilities.
- EnaminemajorExtended collaboration with the world's leading provider of compounds for biological screening. Partnership enriches global early discovery efforts by combining OpenBench's virtual screening with Enamine's REAL compound library.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel HillmajorPartnership with UNC's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Office of Technology Commercialization focused on high-value oncology targets identified by researchers at the University.
- Volastra TherapeuticsmajorSuccess-driven collaboration where OpenBench discovered novel, potent small molecule antagonists to enrich Volastra's early discovery efforts against an undisclosed cancer target. Volastra focuses on exploiting chromosomal instability to treat cancer.
- HemoShear TherapeuticsmajorOpenBench agreed to assign ownership of two promising chemical series to HemoShear Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company, to advance HemoShear's pursuit of an undisclosed rare disease target.
- Tavros TherapeuticsmajorInitial collaboration where OpenBench identified novel, potent antagonists against an undisclosed cancer target identified by Tavros's proprietary functional genomics platform.
- HemoShear TherapeuticsmajorAgreement to use the OpenBench virtual screening platform to identify novel, potent inhibitors of an undisclosed rare disease target.
- Scientist.comminorOpenBench is listed as a Registered Supplier on Scientist.com marketplace, providing visibility to biotech companies seeking discovery services.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
OpenBench competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Schrödinger: Schrödinger operates an industry-leading computational chemistry and structure-based drug design platform that competes directly with OpenBench in virtual screening and hit identification for pharma and biotech partners.
- Atomwise: Atomwise is an AI-driven structure-based virtual screening company focused on small molecule hit discovery through partnerships with pharma and biotech, closely overlapping OpenBench's core offering.
- Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine applies generative AI and structure-based methods across hit ID, lead generation, and beyond, competing with OpenBench for biotech discovery collaborations and partnerships.
Broad incumbents
- Exscientia: Exscientia is an established AI drug discovery company offering an end-to-end platform spanning design through clinical, overlapping OpenBench's hit discovery capabilities as part of a broader pipeline and partnership model.
- Recursion: Recursion is a large, publicly listed AI-driven biotech combining high-throughput biology with computational methods; it overlaps with OpenBench in target prioritization and early discovery partnerships with pharma.
- XtalPi: XtalPi operates an AI plus robotics-enabled drug discovery platform covering hit identification through solid-form development, overlapping OpenBench in AI-driven virtual screening for pharma partners.
- Isomorphic Labs: Isomorphic Labs is Alphabet-backed and applies AI to structure-based drug design and discovery, directly comparable to OpenBench's structure-based virtual screening approach at much greater scale and capitalization.
Emerging players
- Iambic Therapeutics: Iambic Therapeutics uses AI-driven structure-based methods for small molecule discovery, with comparable focus on hard and novel targets similar to OpenBench's first-in-class emphasis.
Others
- Enamine: Enamine is a global supplier of screening compounds (including the REAL database) and an active partner of OpenBench, providing compound libraries that enable OpenBench's trillion-scale virtual screens and downstream confirmatory testing.
- Concept Life Sciences: Concept Life Sciences is an integrated drug discovery CRO partner of OpenBench providing medicinal chemistry and in-vitro testing, enabling delivery of OpenBench's fee-for-success end-to-end hit discovery collaborations.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
OpenBench social profiles
Digital presenceOpenBench compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
OpenBench financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OpenBench leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
OpenBench funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OpenBench M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OpenBench
What does OpenBench do?
OpenBench provides fee-for-success small molecule hit discovery services powered by an AI-enabled structure-based virtual screening platform that screens billions to trillions of compounds against client or modeled target structures. The company funds all upfront discovery costs and only charges clients upon delivery of validated, medicinal-chemistry-approved hit series meeting predefined success criteria, transferring compound IP outright with no royalties or milestones.
Is OpenBench a public or private company?
OpenBench is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was OpenBench founded?
OpenBench was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is OpenBench based?
OpenBench is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does OpenBench make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Fee-for-Success Hit Discovery Services are the primary driver. The others are strategic Partnership Services.
Who are OpenBench's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Schrödinger, Atomwise and Insilico Medicine. Broad incumbents are Exscientia, Recursion, XtalPi and Isomorphic Labs. Iambic Therapeutics is listed as an emerging player. Others are Enamine and Concept Life Sciences.
Does OpenBench have an API?
No public API is recorded for OpenBench.
What industry is OpenBench in?
OpenBench's product category is AI Drug Discovery Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAIALAA, Drug Discovery (Target ID/Validation & Hit Discovery). Its NAICS code is 541714.