S3, E1: How Xaira Therapeutics went from incubation to a billion dollar launch - with Vik Bajaj, CEO Foresite Labs

In this episode, we go inside the creation of Xaira Therapeutics — the biotech startup that raised over a billion dollars at launch without a product or clinical data.

Speaking with Vik Bajaj, CEO and co-founder of Foresite Labs (and one of the people behind Xaira’s creation), Surani explores how Xaira’s approach could redefine biotech company building, why it’s different from typical AI hype, and what makes it such a bold bet.

We follow Vik’s journey from academia to Google to Grail, and then into biotech investing with Foresite Labs, uncovering how a unique incubator model led to Xaira’s launch. From the big idea to the billion-dollar financing, we unpack what’s really happening behind the headlines.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction: Why Xaira’s billion-dollar launch matters

01:00 – Vik Bajaj’s journey from academia to Google and Grail

04:00 – Moving from big tech to biotech: lessons and perspective

06:00 – Founding Foresite Labs and its unique model for biotech incubation

08:00 – Why data generation is key in biotech AI

09:00 – Foresite’s approach: building data, tools, and teams from scratch

11:00 – The origins of Xaira: ideation, science, and assembling the team

13:00 – Bringing in David Baker’s advanced protein design technology

16:00 – Early team building and leveraging Grail and Illumina networks

17:00 – Xaira’s $1B+ fundraising: why it happened and what it means

20:00 – Why Xaira needed so much capital up front

21:30 – What separates Xaira from other AI drug discovery companies

22:30 – The ambition to build a foundation model of the cell (GPT for biology)

23:00 – De novo design: creating antibodies from scratch

24:30 – Building products and platforms in parallel — not sequentially

26:00 – Where Xaira is today and Foresite’s ongoing role

27:00 – Vik’s vision for success: timelines and goals for Xaira

28:00 – Reflections: Can Xaira’s model really change how biotech is built?

29:00 – Outro: What to watch next, and how to support the podcast

For any comments, questions, feedback or suggestions you can connect directly with ⁠⁠Surani Fernando⁠⁠ on LinkedIn or email: [email protected]

Title music composed by: Yrii Semchyshyn (Coma Media)