LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman on Jan. 27 launched Manas AI, a New York-based drug discovery startup, with co-founder oncologist Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee.

The company aims to develop treatments for cancer and rare diseases through AI and computational tools.

The company raised US$24.6 million in a seed funding round co-led by General Catalyst and Reid Hoffman, with participation from Greylock.

The funds will support scaling the AI platform, advancing drug candidates, and broadening clinical programs globally.

Manas AI also announced a partnership with Microsoft to use its Azure cloud computing platform for large-scale molecular docking and other capabilities.