The story of Recursion

Our mission

Our mission is to decode biology to radically improve lives.

In traditional drug discovery, 90% of drugs fail in clinical trials, after more than a decade in development and ~$2 billion in costs.

We’re changing the paradigm – leading with data, AI, and an industrialized approach to dramatically improve the cost, timeline, and probability of success of developing new medicines — because patients are waiting.

Learn about our mission

Recursion Decoded

Recursion Decoded tells the story of a new kind of pharma company. One that values big swings over cautious steps. One where the “Bilingual” workforce of “Recursionauts” is made up of a nearly equal balance of technologists and life scientists. And one where we won’t be satisfied with incremental improvements to the status quo. Read about how we are building the biopharma company of the future.


Read our definitive guide to being a Recursionaut

We act boldly with integrity. →

We act boldly with integrity

We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.

We move
with urgency because patients are waiting. →

We move with urgency
because patients are waiting.

Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.

We care deeply and engage directly. →

We care deeply and engage directly.

Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.

We take ownership and accountability. →

We take ownership
and accountability.

Through ownership and
accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take
accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.

We learn actively and adapt rapidly. →

We learn actively
and adapt rapidly.

Progress comes from doing. We
experiment, test, and refine,
embracing iteration over perfection.

We are One Recursion. →

We are One Recursion

True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.

Timeline

2013

November 5, 2013

Recursion is founded

2015

October 5, 2015

Lead clinical program REC-994 receives FDA Orphan Drug designation

2016

September 2, 2016

Close Series A financing with lead investor Lux Capital

2017

September 25, 2017

Close Series B financing with lead investor DCVC

2018
2019

February 12, 2019

Close the Series C financing with new, lead investor Baillie Gifford

2020

April 24, 2020

Release second open-source data; launch RxRX19 & RxRx2 on SARS-CoV-2 virus

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

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