Jacob Oppenheim, RA Ventures | theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI in Bio

In this interview from theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI in Bio 2026, Jacob Oppenheim, venture partner at RA Capital Management, joins theCUBE + NYSE Wired's Gemma Allen to discuss how investment theses in biotech are evolving as artificial intelligence reshapes drug discovery. Oppenheim explains that the only proven business model in biotech remains making differentiated drugs, and that any technology's value hinges on whether it gets a therapeutic to market faster than the competition. He unpacks why narrow, single-step AI tools often struggle to build durable business cases, pointing to Veeva and Schrödinger as rare examples of technology companies that succeeded within biotech's demanding economics. Key themes include how RA Capital's incubator-accelerator model draws on operators, scientific ideators and regulatory experts to de-risk science before it reaches the clinic. Oppenheim discusses how AI expands the range of testable biological hypotheses by accelerating experiments and synthesizing human genetics data, citing GLP-1 and mRNA therapeutics as examples of biology that became actionable once the right technology emerged. He also touches on the cyclical nature of biotech investment, noting how capital from traditional tech investors ebbs and flows but ultimately broadens scientific perspective. Oppenheim closes by outlining RA Capital's near-term focus: launching well-funded companies across small molecules, biologics and genetic medicine that can prove their science, earn market buy-in and, ultimately, make drugs. Find more SiliconANGLE news and analysis https://siliconangle.com/ Follow theCUBE's wall-to-wall event coverage https://siliconangle.com/events/ Learn about the latest theCUBE events https://www.thecube.net/ 00:00 - Navigating the Biotech Landscape: Innovations, Imperatives, and Challenges 03:23 - Optimizing Drug Development: Success Strategies Through Technology Integration 07:05 - Transformative Strategies in Biotech: AI and Investment Innovations 10:22 - The Incubator-Accelerator Hybrid Model 12:45 - Charting the Future: Raven Capital's Vision in Biotech Investment #theCUBE #AIinBio #theCUBEresearch #NYSEWired #RACapital #AI #DrugDiscovery