Proxima vs Modal
Side-by-side comparison of AI visibility scores, market position, and capabilities
AI drug discovery for protein-protein interactions; raised $80M seed from DCVC and NVIDIA (Jan 2026); oncology and neurodegeneration focus; opens class of previously undruggable targets
About
Proxima is an AI-driven drug discovery company focused on proteins that control critical biological interactions — specifically targeting protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that have historically been considered undruggable. Founded by researchers with backgrounds in structural biology, machine learning, and medicinal chemistry, Proxima uses AI to design novel therapeutics that can modulate these complex binding interfaces, opening up a vast new class of drug targets for conditions ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration.\n\nThe company's platform integrates protein structure prediction, generative molecular design, and experimental validation in a tightly coupled loop. By leveraging AI models trained on structural and interaction data, Proxima can propose drug candidates targeting previously inaccessible sites on proteins. This approach is particularly relevant for oncology and immunology, where many of the most important biological pathways are mediated by protein complexes that small molecules have struggled to disrupt.\n\nProxima raised an $80M seed round backed by DCVC and NVIDIA in January 2026, one of the largest seed rounds in biotech history. NVIDIA's involvement underscores the computational intensity of the platform and the strategic value of GPU infrastructure partnerships in AI drug discovery. The company is pre-clinical but is building a pipeline of candidates targeting high-value undruggable proteins, with the $80M runway intended to advance multiple programs toward IND filings.
Serverless GPU cloud platform for AI/ML with Python-native deployment and per-second billing; developer-favorite scaling from zero competing with Replicate and Beam for AI compute.
About
Modal is a serverless cloud computing platform purpose-built for AI and machine learning workloads — providing on-demand GPU compute that scales instantly from zero with per-second billing, container management, distributed training support, and a Python-native developer experience that makes running ML workloads in the cloud feel as simple as running code locally. Founded in 2021 in New York City and backed by Redpoint Ventures and other investors, Modal has grown rapidly as AI development has accelerated demand for flexible, developer-friendly GPU infrastructure.\n\nModal's developer experience is its primary differentiator — engineers write Python functions decorated with @modal.function() and deploy them to the cloud with a single command, with Modal handling container building, GPU provisioning, auto-scaling, and execution. The platform supports training jobs that need distributed compute across multiple GPUs, model serving endpoints that scale to zero when unused (eliminating idle GPU costs), and batch inference jobs that process large datasets. The per-second billing model means developers pay only for actual compute time, not provisioned instances.\n\nIn 2025, Modal competes in the AI infrastructure market with Replicate, Beam, Banana, and major cloud providers' managed ML services (AWS SageMaker, Google Vertex AI, Azure ML) for serverless GPU compute. The market for AI-specific cloud infrastructure has grown dramatically as the number of ML engineers deploying models to production has expanded — traditional cloud providers require significant DevOps expertise to use GPU instances effectively, while Modal's Python-native approach reduces the barrier to entry. Modal has attracted a strong developer following among AI researchers and ML engineers building production AI applications. The 2025 strategy focuses on growing the developer community, adding enterprise features (dedicated GPU capacity, private networking, compliance), and expanding the hardware options available (H100 GPUs, custom accelerators).
AI Visibility Head-to-Head
Capabilities & Ecosystem
Capabilities
Also Compare
Track AI Visibility in Real Time
Monitor how your brand performs across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok daily.