the tech buzz

The AI Drug Development Gold Rush

AI Biotech IPO Boom: Eikon's $381M debut, Veradermics' 122% pop on day one, and Generate Bio Phase 3 pipeline signal a market awakening investors can't ignore.

The Tech Buzz
February 24, 2026

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

WHAT’S INSIDE:

Feature: The AI Drug Development Gold Rush

Top Tech News: Dems vs AI data centers⁠⁠, Wall Street drops 1% on AI disruption fears⁠⁠, Trump vows higher tariffs post-SC block⁠⁠, dollar trades sideways on policy uncertainty⁠⁠

Company Watch: OpenAI's $200-$300 smart speaker for 2027⁠⁠, Apple March 4 event with 5+ new products⁠⁠, Google x Fluidstack⁠⁠, IQM Quantum SPAC, Nvidia PC chip push

Buzzy Tech: ASML 1,000W EUV light for 50% more chips by 2030⁠⁠, AI predicts solar storms⁠⁠, MIT 3D-prints motors, Donut Lab solid-state battery⁠⁠, Quantonation⁠⁠, SpaceX

Buzzy Tools: Claude Security, Seedance 2.0 AI video rattles Hollywood⁠⁠, Superpower AI analyzes labs⁠⁠, Rork Max builds Apple apps in clicks⁠⁠, Guide Labs interpretable LLM⁠⁠

Crypto: Based $11.5M Series A⁠⁠, Missouri BTC Reserve, SEC stablecoin guidance⁠⁠, Saylor's 100th BTC buy⁠⁠, Blend suffers $10M exploit⁠⁠, OpenClaw declares war on crypto

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RYSE

Pre-IPO A.I Smart Home Opportunity — Nasdaq Ticker $RYSS Reserved

RYSE is building the A.I. layer for the smart home, starting at one of the most important control points: window coverings. Blinds and shades shape how natural light, heat, and comfort move through an entire space — yet over 90% remain manually controlled across homes, offices, and hotels.

The first wave of smart home leaders showed what’s possible. Google acquired Nest for $3.2 Billion. Amazon bought Ring for over $1 Billion. Each began with a single overlooked category. RYSE is following that path with window covering automation.

RYSE has earned over $15 million in revenue, holds 10 patents, and is expanding through major retail and B2B channels, including sales in 100+ Best Buy stores and deployments with Fairmont Hotel.

The company has reserved the Nasdaq ticker $RYSS. This may be their final public round before they shift towards institutional capital ahead of any potential exit or liquidity.

Invest alongside thousands of shareholders before the next phase.

Top Technology News

Wall Street Tumbles — Markets drop 1%+ on AI disruption fears and tariff chaos. Financials sink 3.3%, software 4.3%. Domino's up 4.1% on pizza power.

Trump Tariff Threats — Trump vows higher tariffs and license fees after Supreme Court blocks emergency tariffs. EU freezes trade vote amid escalating tensions.

Dollar Uncertainty — Dollar trades sideways as tariff uncertainty grips markets. Investors waiting for clearer policy signals before making major moves.

Dems vs Data Centers — Democratic 2028 hopefuls Pritzker, Shapiro, and Moore propose AI data center moratoriums as voters fume over high energy costs, job fears.

Silicon Meets Syringe: The AI Drug Development Gold Rush

Tech Buzz Editorial Feature

The biotech IPO market just woke up from a long nap, and artificial intelligence is writing the prescription. Eikon Therapeutics led the charge in February with a $381M Nasdaq debut, the biggest biotech IPO since 2024. Meanwhile, Veradermics saw shares rocket 122% on its first day, pulling in $256M to tackle pattern hair loss in a $9B annual U.S. market. Who is next up? Generate Biomedicines, armed with $805M in funding and partnerships with Novartis and Amgen, just filed to go public while advancing its severe asthma therapy into Phase 3 trials.

This wave signals something deeper than typical biotech hype cycles. Investors are betting that AI can crack problems that stumped researchers for decades. The technology shortcuts the traditionally glacial drug discovery timeline by predicting how molecules will behave before scientists ever touch a test tube.

Seeing Is Believing

Eikon Therapeutics exemplifies this new paradigm. The company uses AI-powered super-resolution microscopy to literally watch proteins move inside living cells. Think of it like upgrading from blurry vacation photos to 4K video. Their platform tracks individual protein molecules as drugs interact with them, revealing exactly what works and what doesn't. They're developing EIK1001 for immune response and PARP1 inhibitors for cancer, guided by these molecular movies.

Isomorphic Labs also just raised the bar even higher with its Drug Design Engine (IsoDDE), which doubles the accuracy of protein-ligand structure predictions compared to AlphaFold 3. The system identifies novel binding pockets using only amino acid sequences, opening doors to drug targets researchers couldn't previously access. This matters because many diseases lack treatments precisely because scientists couldn't figure out where drugs should attach to proteins.

Big Pharma Joins the Party

When Eli Lilly and Nvidia commit $1B over five years to build an AI co-innovation lab, complete with a custom supercomputer, the message is clear: this technology has graduated from experimental to essential. The partnership aims to create a feedback loop where AI models improve as they generate better data from faster experiments. Shorter discovery cycles mean more drug candidates reach clinical trials, and more shots on goal mean more eventual wins for patients.

Operational Intelligence Beats Pure Discovery

Not every AI biotech startup is designing molecules from scratch. Mendra raised $82M in Series A funding with a different approach: using AI to execute faster rather than just discover smarter. The company scans existing rare disease assets from academia and smaller biotechs, scoring them for acquisition potential. Their algorithms then identify and enroll patients for clinical trials, solving one of rare disease development's biggest bottlenecks. Think of it as AI playing talent scout and project manager simultaneously.

Tandem Technology is chasing a $1B valuation while automating prescription processing tasks like prior authorizations and pharmacy routing. Corxel Pharmaceuticals secured $287M in Series D funding for its oral GLP-1 receptor agonist CX11, using AI to support global multi-regional clinical trials for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Following the Smart Money

Smaller rounds are multiplying too. Converge Bio pulled $25M in Series A funding from Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from executives at Meta, OpenAI, and Wiz. The Boston and Tel Aviv startup has completed over 40 programs for pharmaceutical clients using generative AI trained on molecular data. Think Bioscience raised $55M to develop small molecule drugs for tough targets like Noonan syndrome, a genetic condition with zero approved therapies.

The pattern is unmistakable. AI drug development companies are attracting capital across every stage, from seed rounds to public offerings. Venture firms see technology risk declining while the potential payoff remains massive: novel therapies reaching patients in half the traditional time at a fraction of the cost.

For tech investors, this convergence of AI capabilities and drug development needs creates rare opportunities. For founders, the infrastructure is maturing fast with partnerships, compute resources, and talent migration from pure tech into biotech. Real estate and finance professionals should watch where these companies cluster geographically, as AI-driven drug development hubs will anchor high-value commercial corridors for decades. The molecules of tomorrow are being designed by algorithms today, and the market is placing its bets accordingly.

Companies To Watch

Latest deals and trending companies

Open Deal: The Wyoming Exchange Building the "New York Stock Exchange for Nonprofits." Watch an investor talk by co-founders on WYDE’s mission & news.

OpenAI Smart Speaker — AI giant building smart speaker with camera and facial auth for $200-$300, launching early 2027. Over 200 employees on it, but tech and privacy hurdles causing delays.

Apple March Event — Apple prepping March 4 event to launch at least 5 new products including refreshed devices and potential AI-powered updates.

Fluidstack — Google eyeing $100M investment at $7.5B valuation in cloud startup to challenge Nvidia's AI chip dominance.

IQM Quantum — Finland's quantum computing firm is merging with a SPAC at $1.8B valuation to tap cybersecurity demand from tech giants and governments.

Nvidia PC Chips — Nvidia planning PC chip push to challenge AMD and Intel, expanding beyond GPUs into full system-on-chip territory.

Axiom Space $350M — Commercial space station builder raises $350M Series D to build Axiom Station succeeding ISS, plus spacesuits for NASA's lunar missions.

Buzzy Tools & Tech

The Latest Trending Tools & Cutting Edge Technology Developments

Buzzy Tools

Buzzy Tools To Watch and Try Today

Claude Security — Rolls out new tool that detects software vulnerabilities.

Seedance 2.0 — ByteDance AI video tool rattles Hollywood with cheap AI films.

Superpower AI — AI doc analyzes all medical labs results, offers custom advice.

Rork Max —Web-based tool builds and publishing mobile apps for Apple products.

Guide Labs LLM — Interpretable AI you can actually understand.

Buzzy Technology

Buzzy Tech Discoveries and Breakthroughs Trending Today

ASML EUV Light — 1,000W light = 50% more chips by 2030.

PINNBARDS — Predicts solar storms weeks early with AI modeling.

MIT 3D Motor — Prints working Electric Motors for 50 cents each.

Donut Lab Battery — Solid-state EV battery charges in 7 min.

Quantonation — EU deep-tech VC raises €220M quantum fund.

Space Race

SpaceX Record — Falcon booster hits 33rd flight record.

Axiom Space — Raises $350M Series D to build Axiom Station succeeding ISS.

Cryptocurrency News

The Latest News in Crypto & Blockchain

Open Deal: The Wyoming Exchange Building the "New York Stock Exchange for Nonprofits." Watch an investor talk by co-founders on WYDE’s mission & news.

SEC Stablecoin Rules — SEC issues guidance on broker capital requirements for stablecoins, opening door for traditional finance to enter crypto markets.

Missouri Bitcoin — Missouri advances bill for Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Fund, letting state treasurer invest in bitcoin with biennial reporting.

Based Funding — Web3 trading app Based raised $11.5M Series A from Pantera Capital. Plans AI-driven commerce with 100K+ users and $40B trading volume.

Saylor's 100th BTC Buy — Michael Saylor's Strategy hits historic milestone with 100th Bitcoin purchase, cementing position as largest corporate BTC holder.

Blend $10M Exploit — DeFi lending protocol Blend hit by $10M exploit as hackers drain funds, raising fresh questions about smart contract security.

OpenClaw vs Crypto — Viral AI agent OpenClaw declares war on crypto content, sparking debate over AI censorship and content moderation in decentralized systems.