Cypher AI

Intelligent Digital Infrastructure for Life Science R&D

[MaC Venture Capital @MaCVentureCap]

.@cypherbio has announced a $2M seed round to build AI-native infrastructure for life science R&D. The company is helping researchers create custom software tools on demand and accelerate scientific discovery. Big momentum across AI + biotech. 👏
https://t.co/NMMSjZrri2

[Yaoyu Yang @yaoyuyang]

Today, I’m excited to share that Cypher AI @cypherbio has raised a $2M seed round led by @MaCVentureCap, with participation from Epsilon Ventures, @CT_Innovate, Sparta Group LLC, LiquidMetal Ventures, and other strategic investors.

When I started Cypher AI in 2025, it came from a simple but deeply held belief: progress in the life sciences is essential to humanity’s future, and accelerating that progress requires fundamentally better digital infrastructure.

For years, I’ve seen brilliant scientists and biotech teams push the boundaries of biology while still relying on fragmented tools, spreadsheets, manual coordination, and systems not designed for the speed and complexity of modern research.

The science has advanced dramatically. The infrastructure has not kept up.

Cypher AI is our attempt to change that.

We are building AI-native digital infrastructure for life sciences R&D: a unified operating layer that helps teams design experiments, coordinate execution, manage data, work with service providers, and analyze results in one intelligent workflow.

Our goal is to help scientists move faster from hypothesis to insight, improve reproducibility, and scale research without adding operational complexity.
I’m deeply grateful to our investors for believing in this vision early and supporting the next stage of Cypher AI’s growth.

I also want to thank our early customers, including MicroQuin, WayBio, Flock Bio, Bioqore, DropGenie, ENZIDIA, Ranata Therapeutics, and the many scientists who have trusted us with their workflows. Your feedback, honesty, and willingness to build with us have shaped the product more than any plan ever could.

I’m also grateful to @enginexyz, where Cypher AI is proud to be a resident company, for the incredible support, resources, and community they have provided along the way.

Also shout out to the 5050 program by @fiftyyears, which was one of the most important decisions I made in 2025 and helped shape how I show up as a founder.

To our advisors, mentors, friends, and early supporters: thank you for taking calls, making introductions, challenging our thinking, and encouraging us when the path was uncertain.

Most importantly, thank you to the Cypher AI team. Startups are built by people willing to move through ambiguity with urgency, care, and conviction. I feel honored every day to build alongside you.

This is still the very beginning. As life sciences R&D becomes more complex, data-rich, and collaborative, the next generation of life sciences companies will need infrastructure that is intelligent, adaptive, and deeply connected to how science actually happens.

As part of this next chapter, we’re also rolling out the Cypher Marketplace, designed to help scientists and service providers manage orders, coordination, execution, and results in a connected AI-native workflow. More on this soon.

We’re excited to keep building.

Read the full announcement: https://t.co/7FDtOh5355

[Yaoyu Yang @yaoyuyang]

Time is such a powerful thing.

Two weeks ago, I was in Seattle and saw the Link 2 Line open across Lake Washington and Mercer Island.

It brought me right back to 2014, when I was a graduate student at UW. I remember reading the news that the East Link extension to Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Redmond was scheduled to be completed in 2026.

At the time, I thought: 2026? Are you kidding me? That’s 12 years away.

And now, somehow, 2026 is here. The line is open.

A lot has changed since then. I’m older. I have two kids now. My older one is 9 and doing all kinds of crazy figure skating moves that still make me wonder where the time went.

It’s funny how something that once felt impossibly far away can eventually just become reality.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I’m building @cypherbio

I don’t intend Cypher become an overnight success. I think of it as a long-term project, something that may take a decade or more to see truly massive results but I’m determined to put my full sustained efforts to it.

One thing I’ve come to believe more and more: we often overestimate what we can achieve in the short term, and underestimate what we can achieve in the long term.

Twelve years ago, 2026 felt unreal. Now I’m standing in it. That’s a good reminder to keep building.

[Yaoyu Yang @yaoyuyang]

Joining 5050 program by @fiftyyears was one of the most important decisions I made in 2025.

When building @cypherbio, my ambition was always clear: accelerate how life science R&D gets done. But 5050 fundamentally changed how I show up as a founder every single day. It sharpened my thinking, strengthened my conviction, and surrounded me with a community that genuinely pushes you to operate at a higher level.

Camp was transformational. A full weekend focused on resilience, self awareness, and founder growth. It forced me to confront discomfort directly and realize that most “scary” startup moments are mental barriers, not existential threats.

That shift alone changed how I handle fundraising, hiring, and big strategic decisions at Cypher. What makes 5050 different is how practical and founder focused it is. The team asks hard questions, challenges your assumptions, and consistently pushes you to think bigger. The weekly office hours and partner talks are incredibly dense and actionable. The fundraising session in particular helped me recognize where I was approaching things incorrectly and immediately adjust our strategy.

For Cypher AI, that translated into clearer positioning, stronger investor conversations, and a more disciplined approach to building our intelligent digital infrastructure for life science R&D. Also do you know there is an insane rate of 96% of startups coming out from 5050 that successfully raised their capital? And yes, I did successfully raise money after 5050! It's crazy!

If you are a scientist or engineer building something ambitious and meaningful, I cannot recommend it enough.

Thank you team at @fiftyyears for making this incredible program!

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Still stitching together instrument software + analysis + AI tools?

This talk starts now at #SLAS2026.

Yaoyu Yang on real AI-driven instrument integration.

Happening now
Room 206AB

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Today at #SLAS2026.

How do scientists work with AI, automation, and analysis tools without juggling systems?

Yaoyu Yang is speaking on AI-Driven Instrument Integration for Life Science Labs.

When: 4 PM
Where: Room 206AB

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

The future lab stack isn’t:
Instrument software + ELNs + scripts + AI bolted on.

It’s one intelligent layer coordinating setup, execution, and analysis.

We’re presenting this direction at #slas2026.

When: Monday, February 9 • 4 PM
Where: Room 206AB

[Ginkgo Bioworks @Ginkgo]

We are underway with the Ginkgo Datapoints Summit here in the Boston Seaport!

@jrkelly kicked off the day, and our opening speaker Y. Joy Jiao from OpenAI delivered a fantastic talk on ChatGPT as a co-scientist and integral member of future research teams.

We're looking forward to a full day of conversations on the intersection of AI, automation and biotech.

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Cypher is at two events today! Come say hello and lets talk about how AI can support the lab scientist!

📍 Boston: Yaoyu is at the Ginkgo Data Points event; https://t.co/LhylsHOjCi 📷
📍 Research Triangle: Michael will be at Triangle Biotech Tuesday; https://t.co/lXOLmHj0rV

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Not all biotech needs a lab coat.

Kombucha is one of the most accessible forms of home fermentation — a kitchen-friendly way to explore biotechnology.

I’ve shared protocols so you can make your own: 👉 https://t.co/HUNRw0gS2y

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

We’ve talked about constraining LLMs so they can provide accurate information about instruments. But what about the rest of lab life?

That’s why we built AI-Settings!

Set your own system prompts to standardize language and apply real world constraints. https://t.co/BDNB1XsvIN

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

LLMs are powerful, but their assumptions are often hidden and chasing clarity is painful.

That’s why we built dynamic forms into Cypher:
✅ Assumptions are explicit
✅ Missing info is easy to provide
✅ Experiments are easier to design

Avoid the fluff and capture info quickly!

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Ive been learning a lot of new skills and cooking recipes thanks to AI!

This access to information and ease of communication is what we are most excited for with the growing popularity of AI.

Pictured are SCOBY Bioleathers!

What have you been learning?

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Most AI has never seen a lab instrument file in its training data.

That’s why instrument integration matters. At Cypher, we’ve taught our AI how to generate Echo dispense lists directly from experimental context.

Check out https://t.co/cwvPPZtIVe to add your instrument!

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Scientists want actions they can trust.

That’s why we like narrow scoped AI actions that are a click away.

Our favorite example is the GitHub "Generate Commit with Copilot" button. This quickly details changes made to the Cypher codebase, making documentations effortless!

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

Turn on instrument integrations today and start building: https://t.co/cwvPPZtIVe

Bonus: Try the Echo Pick List Visualizer to explore your transfers in a whole new way.

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

At Cypher, we believe AI should speak your lab’s language; including the instruments you use every day.

That’s why we’ve released AI-powered integrations for:
- FORMULATRIX Tempest
- Echo Acoustic Liquid Handler
- DropGenie

[Cypher AI @cypherbio]

These integrations teach Cypher AI how to work with each instrument for protocol planning, dispense list generation, and data analysis. Now your AI can produce outputs that are accurate, usable, and ready to go.

[Yaoyu Yang @yaoyuyang]

@SynBio1 Hi Jake! I feel you! Michael Taylor and I are building a new take on ELN @cypherbio! It’s here https://t.co/5YITaIo4Z8 and it’s in early beta. We’d love to get your thoughts!

[Yaoyu Yang @yaoyuyang]

Check out @cypherbio launch news on @MassBio! Grateful to be part of such an innovative and supportive community at MassBio! https://t.co/lYcRoT28re #aiforscience