The Biotech Startups Podcast 🧬 Seed Rounds Are the New Series A: How Funding Benchmarks Shifted | Krish Ramadurai (4/4)
Dec 11, 2025
29:09
"The biggest problem that we're seeing right now is that the efficiency gains have not translated to enterprise value. The customer is not seeing that result transcend into unit economics yet."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore Krish Ramadurai's insights on AI-native venture investing and the evolving biotech landscape. Krish unpacks the current state of AI ventures, explaining why the foundation layer is being rapidly commoditized and how defensibility now lives in full-stack applications rather than point solutions. He offers a candid perspective on what founders often misunderstand about market fit, revealing that efficiency gains haven't translated to enterprise value and that most AI companies are building vitamins when customers need painkillers.
Krish breaks down the dramatic shift in funding benchmarks, where seed-stage companies now achieve revenue milestones that previously defined Series A rounds. He shares hard-won lessons from the tech bio space, explaining why platforms that forgot biotech is fundamentally a drug business struggled during the biotech winter, and why growth investors can only underwrite assets, not services models. The conversation also explores AIX's firm-building philosophy, emphasizing how combining technical expertise with authentic human connection—being "the same dweeb in and out of the office"—creates a competitive advantage in winning deals against tier-one funds with significantly larger checks.
Key topics covered:
- AI Commoditization: Why the core AI foundation layer is eroding and defensibility requires full-stack, wedge-owning solutions
- Funding Paradigm Shifts: How revenue benchmarks have evolved with companies skipping entire funding stages
- Tech Bio Reality Check: Why AI biotech platforms failed by forgetting that biotech is a drug business, not a software business
- Customer-Centric Building: The importance of understanding actual customer needs versus assumed efficiency gains, especially in healthcare's 16-month procurement cycles
- Firm Culture & Winning Deals: How EQ, technical depth, and authenticity enable winning competitive Series A rounds with smaller checks against tier-one investors
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Subscribe to the Podcast:
Find our guest, Krish Ramadurai, at these links:
Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
Learn more about Excedr:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Website: https://www.excedr.com
Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:
Website: https://flow.page/kyojin
Resources & Articles:
Full-stack applications vs point solutions https://mitratech.com/resource-hub/blog/point-vs-platform-solutions-tech-stack-strategies-to-prepare-you-for-the-future/
Power law distribution in venture capital returns https://www.bipventures.vc/news/explainer-what-is-the-venture-capital-power-law
Choose the Right Contract Research Organization https://www.excedr.com/blog/contract-research-organizations
CRO Expansion: Growth Without Adding Lab Space https://www.excedr.com/blog/cro-expansion-how-to-grow-without-adding-lab-space
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
OpenAI: https://openai.com/
Insilico Medicine: https://insilico.com/
Recursion Pharmaceuticals: https://www.recursion.com/
Sujata Bhatia https://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/sujata-k-bhatia
Abhirup Banerjee https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhirupb88/?originalSubdomain=uk
Shaun Johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunbjohnson/
Richard Socher https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardsocher/
Christopher Manning https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-manning-011575/
Anthony Goldbloom https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonygoldbloom/
Pieter Abbeel https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieterabbeel/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:21 State of AI-Native Venture Capital & Market Commoditization
04:21 Defensibility, Full-Stack Wedges & Shifting Funding Benchmarks
07:35 AI Froth, Customer Overwhelm & Painkillers vs Vitamins
09:51 Where AI Actually Matters in Biotech & AI-Developed Drugs
13:26 The Reality of Venture Capital: Glamour vs Fund Management
15:29 Building AIX: Firm Culture, Mission & Track Record
17:23 Why Founders Choose AIX: EQ, Technical Depth & Being “Normal”
21:45 Communicating Complex Science & Making STEM Accessible
22:40 Looking Ahead: Fund III, 100 New Cures & Practicing the Craft
24:35 Shout-Outs, Mentors & the Importance of Good People
25:01 Advice to 21-Year-Old Self: Failure, Tactical Suffering & Growth
26:43 Outro
The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.