Y Combinator to fund more academic spinouts

Bay Area startup incubator Y Combinator is announcing today that it plans to increase its focus on small molecule drugs, with a partnership designed to bring academic spinouts developing small-molecule drugs into its famed accelerator program. There will also be a tech-y twist: Y Combinator plans to choose compounds to back with the help of an algorithm.

Atomwise, a Y Combinator alum, will use its artificial intelligence tools to help the incubator whittle down a pool of 200 applicants to a choice few, trying to identify drug candidates that might have a higher likelihood of working. 

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