Exonic

What do they actually do

Exonic runs a web platform (Exonic Studio) where users build visual, no‑code workflows that combine open‑source biological AI models and utility blocks (sequence editors, format converters, structure predictors, scorers) to design and evaluate DNA/RNA, proteins, and small molecules. The live docs list drag‑and‑drop components like a DNA Design Panel, Malinois scoring/optimization, OpenFold2/RFdiffusion, ESM‑2, and AA↔SMILES conversion, and show how they chain in a workflow Exonic docs, Exonic homepage.

Users can submit top designs to public tournaments for experimental validation; Exonic runs wet‑lab assays on winners and returns results to the community. In their first public tournament on synthetic enhancers (HepG2), they report testing 63 designs, with 6 outperforming the best‑known sequence and 62/63 exceeding a high‑percentile benchmark YC company page, Tournament page.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Academic molecular biology PI or lab manager: Needs to design/test sequences without ML engineering support; struggles to chain prediction tools and get experimental validation without building custom pipelines Exonic docs, YC company page.
• Computational biologist/modeler: Can script but wastes time gluing models and format converters; wants a reproducible, visual environment to prototype and compare designs faster than maintaining bespoke tooling Exonic docs.
• Small biotech or discovery team lead: Needs low‑cost ways to generate and triage candidates before larger R&D spend; seeks experimentally validated hits without big CRO contracts or in‑house scale‑up YC company page.
• Pharma innovation/scouting team: Wants access to diverse, crowdsourced design ideas but worries about throughput, data quality, and IP/commercial terms; needs validated, licensable candidates with clear ownership YC company page.
• Independent contributor/competition participant: Has ideas but lacks lab access and end‑to‑end tooling; wants transparent feedback and rewards when designs are tested and succeed Exonic homepage, YC company page.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Use warm intros (YC network, founders’ contacts) to recruit 10 hands‑on academic labs and comp‑bio groups; provide white‑glove onboarding and reserved wet‑lab validation slots in the first tournament to generate fast case studies Exonic docs, YC company page.
• First 50: Run two public tournaments with modest prizes and guaranteed validation for top winners; publish results (building on the HepG2 example) and promote via conferences/lists, offering workflow templates, live workshops, and limited wet‑lab credits to lower activation friction Exonic docs, YC company page.
• First 100: Convert community users into paying pilots by packaging prioritized experimental runs, SLAs, and simple licensing for validated hits; add CRO partnerships and tech‑transfer ties for throughput, plus referral incentives, leaderboards, and exportable workflows to help labs justify spend Exonic docs, YC company page.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Exonic touches overlapping markets: bioinformatics software (~$10.1B, 2022), AI in drug discovery (~$1.5B, 2023), synthetic biology tools (~$16B, 2024), and CRO/lab outsourcing (preclinical in the several‑billion range within a ~$79.5B global CRO market) Bioinformatics, AI in drug discovery, Synthetic biology, CRO market, Preclinical CRO.

Bottom-up calculation:

Near‑term TAM: a conservative sum of bioinformatics (~$10B) + AI drug‑discovery software (~$1.5B) + a targeted preclinical/discovery CRO slice (~$5–8B) yields roughly $16–20B for software‑first sequence design plus limited validation Bioinformatics, AI in drug discovery, Preclinical CRO.

Assumptions:

• Focus on early discovery spend where sequence design and small‑scale validation matter; exclude most late‑stage clinical services.
• Numbers overlap across segments; sums are directional and conservative to limit double counting.
• Adoption assumes labs/SMBs pay for design+validation workflows; pharma/licensing and large‑scale services expand TAM over time.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Recursion: Runs an integrated platform combining large automated wet labs, proprietary datasets, and ML for end‑to‑end discovery and pharma partnerships—competes when customers want a single vendor for design, high‑throughput testing, and program advancement Recursion.
• Atomwise: AI‑first small‑molecule discovery (AtomNet) offering virtual screening and partnerships/licensing—overlaps on in‑silico hit finding for small molecules Atomwise.
• insitro: Combines ML with high‑throughput biology and curated datasets to discover targets/molecules via deep collaborations; competes for customers prioritizing tightly controlled data and long‑term programs insitro.
• Foldit: Citizen‑science protein‑design game whose community has produced lab‑tested de novo proteins—overlaps with Exonic’s crowdsourcing concept, though via a gamified tool and community Nature paper.
• Emerald Cloud Lab: A cloud lab that executes remote experiments and codifies protocols; competes on the experimental execution/validation layer independent of Exonic’s tournament pipeline ECL.