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Jun 2025CNBC reported that Formation Bio had not yet submitted a drug for regulatory approval, so clinical, regulatory, and execution risk remain material despite substantial funding and a growing pipeline.
SourceAI-powered drug development and clinical trials.
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 2, 2026
Overview
Formation Bio is a privately held, AI-native pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, formerly TrialSpark. It acquires, licenses, and develops clinical-stage drug assets, using proprietary software, data, and AI to make drug development faster and more efficient.
Primary product
An AI-native drug-development platform and associated pharma operating model spanning asset sourcing, drug-selection intelligence, trial design, clinical-trial execution, and portfolio development. Named platform components include Atlas, Delphi, Forge, Apollo, ARK, and Muse.
Founded
2013
Headquarters
16 East 34th Street, Floor 10, New York, NY 10016, United States
Team size
100-200 (third-party estimates vary; one June 2026 estimate reported approximately 196 and another company-profile estimate reported 137)
Work style
Hybrid
Industry
Biotechnology Research
Sub-industry
AI-native pharmaceutical drug development / clinical-stage biotech
Offices
New York City, New York, United States (headquarters)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
North Carolina Research Triangle, United States
Business model
Acquires or licenses clinical-stage drug assets and advances them through development
Partners with pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, universities, and research organizations
Uses proprietary technology and AI to improve trial design, recruitment, execution, and development efficiency
Creates value through asset development and licensing/out-licensing transactions
Funding
People & investors
Leadership
CEO & Co-Founder
Co-Founder
Michael D. Ehlers
Chief Scientific Officer & Head of R&D
Chief Technology Officer
Louis Brenner
Chief Medical Officer
SVP, People
Chief Business Officer
Chief Financial Officer
SVP, Operations
Sean Childers
General Counsel
Executive in Residence
Investors
8VC
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
ArrowMark Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners
Casdin Capital
CTFH (Jiangsu Chia Tai Feng Hai Pharmaceutical)
Dragoneer Investment Group
Emerson Collective
Felicis
Felicis Ventures
Founder Collective
FPV Ventures
General Catalyst
John Doerr
Kleiner Perkins
Lachy Groom
Lynk Pharmaceuticals
Maveron
Michael Moritz
OpenAI
S32
Sam Altman
Sanofi
Section 32
Sequoia Capital
Sound Ventures
Spark Capital
Streamlined Ventures
SV Angel / SV Angel Growth
SV Angel Growth
Work & culture
The company describes an AI-native, data-driven, first-principles, scientifically rigorous culture emphasizing rapid iteration, workflow redesign, cross-functional collaboration, high ownership, and using AI as a daily force multiplier. Engineering roles describe fluid boundaries among engineering, product, data science, and clinical/domain teams.
Work style
Hybrid
Compensation
Job postings state that compensation depends on role scope, geography, skills, and experience; offers include base salary, equity, comprehensive benefits, and perks. Public postings did not provide a reliable company-wide salary range. E-Verify participation is disclosed, but sponsorship policy is not established by that fact.
Benefits
Flexible PTO
Health, vision, and dental insurance
401(k) plan
Pre-tax commuter benefits
Short- and long-term disability insurance
Life insurance
16 weeks paid parental leave for birthing parents
12 weeks paid parental leave for non-birthing parents
Professional-development resources, conference passes, certifications, and leadership coaching
Team-building events, company gatherings, retreat, and employee resource groups
Product & market
Pricing
Not publicly disclosed; the apparent model is partnership-, asset-, licensing-, and transaction-based rather than a public self-serve SaaS price list.
Differentiators
- —Combines a pharma operating company with proprietary AI and software rather than selling only an external software tool
- —Acquires or licenses clinical-stage assets and advances them through clinical proof points
- —Integrated platform covering sourcing, selection, trial design, recruitment, execution, and development
- —Large internal data platform spanning clinical trials, real-world patients, scientific papers, and deals
- —AI-native workflow redesign intended to achieve sublinear scaling of the drug portfolio
- —Flexible financing and partnership structures
Technology
Atlas
Delphi
Forge
Apollo
ARK AI orchestration layer
Muse patient-recruitment platform
Large language models and agentic AI workflows
Python
TypeScript
React
TensorFlow
PyTorch
AWS/GCP/Azure cloud infrastructure
Databricks
Snowflake
dbt
Looker
Terraform
Datadog
Neo4j
Customers
Sanofi
Pharmaceutical companies
Biotechnology companies
Universities and research organizations
Clinical investigators and trial partners
Competitors
Owkin
Recursion Pharmaceuticals
Exscientia
Schrödinger
AbSci
Cellarity
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
Approximately $39M-$100M annually based on conflicting third-party estimates; Formation Bio does not appear to publicly report revenue.
Estimated monthly visits
18K
Traffic estimate as of Jun 2026
Signals & risks
Latest news
Formation Bio · Jul 2026
Michael Ehlers joined as CSO and Head of R&D, bringing senior experience from Pfizer, Biogen, Apple Tree Partners, and MPM BioImpact.
Formation Bio · Jun 2026
Significant pipeline milestone: first participant dosed in Phase 1 of BLKR201 after in-licensing the asset from Lynk Pharmaceuticals.
Formation Bio · Feb 2026
Formation Bio explains its AI-native strategy: redesigning workflows and organizational memory to grow the asset base faster than operational headcount.
Formation Bio · Sep 2025
The company announced Louis Brenner as CMO, Daniel Neil as CTO, and Frank D'Amelio and Dashyant Dhanak as strategic advisors; it also described a goal of reaching 10-15 assets in three to five years.
CNBC · Jun 2025
CNBC covered Formation Bio's valuation, its Muse collaboration with OpenAI and Sanofi, and the fact that it had not yet submitted a drug for regulatory approval.
Jobs and careers at Formation Bio
24 jobs at Formation Bio
Senior Data Engineer
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States; San Francisco, California, United States
Today
On-site
Full-time
Senior Software Engineer
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States; San Francisco, California, United States
Today
On-site
Full-time
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States; San Francisco, California, United States
Today
On-site
Full-time
Senior Software Engineer II, Trial Engine
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
2w ago
On-site
Full-time
Engineering Manager, Infrastructure
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
2w ago
On-site
Full-time
Associate Director, Data Engineering
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
2w ago
On-site
Full-time
Associate Director/Director, Digital Quality
On-site
Quality Assurance
Boston, MA; New York, NY; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
3w ago
On-site
Full-time
Director/Senior Director, Product - Applied Data Science
On-site
Product
New York, NY; Boston, MA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
4w ago
On-site
Full-time
Director, Financial Reporting
On-site
Finance
New York, NY; Boston, MA; Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Manhattan, New York, 10011, New York, United States
4w ago
On-site
Full-time
Lead Technical Recruiter
On-site
People
New York, NY; Boston, MA
1mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Associate Director, GMP Quality
On-site
Quality Assurance
Boston, MA; New York, NY
2mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Data Scientist - Real World Data
On-site
Engineering
New York, NY; Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; Raleigh-Durham, NC
3mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Director, Brand & Communications
On-site
Marketing
New York, NY; Boston, MA
3mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Director or Vice President, Product
On-site
Product
New York, NY; Boston MA
3mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Director/Senior Director of Asset Quality Assurance
On-site
Quality Assurance
New York, NY; Boston, MA
3mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Associate Director, Data Engineering (Real World Data)
On-site
Data Science
Boston, MA; New York, NY
4mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Director, Data Science
On-site
Data Science
Boston, MA; New York, NY
4mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Principal Data Scientist
On-site
Data Science
New York, NY; Boston, MA
4mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Director, Pharmacology
On-site
Clinical Development
New York, NY; Boston, MA
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Director, Business Development - Search & Evaluation
On-site
Business Development
Boston, MA
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Data Scientist, Medical Imaging
On-site
Data Science
Boston, MA; New York, NY
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Principal Data Scientist, Medical Imaging
On-site
Data Science
New York, NY; Boston, MA
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Associate Director, Bioanalytical Development
On-site
CMC
New York, NY; Boston, MA
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Data Scientist
On-site
Data Science
New York, NY; Boston, MA
5mo ago
On-site
Full-time