Ankit Gupta, a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and machine learning expert, has taken on a new chapter in his career as a General Partner at Y Combinator (YC). Known for his groundbreaking work at the intersection of AI and biology, Gupta is now positioned to guide the next wave of startups transforming industries with artificial intelligence.
A Journey from Harvard to YC Leadership
Gupta’s path has been marked by academic excellence and entrepreneurial grit. A Harvard graduate with a joint B.A./M.S. in Computer Science, he finished magna cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2017. His thesis work under Professor Alexander Rush and Dr. David Kelley applied NLP techniques to computational biology—an early glimpse into his future focus on AI-driven biotech.
Even in high school, Gupta showed his competitive edge, serving as Team Captain for the Oregon American Regions Math League (ARML). That same determination would later fuel his journey as a founder, researcher, and mentor to the next generation of innovators.
Building Reverie Labs and Scaling at Ginkgo
In 2018, Gupta co-founded Reverie Labs, an AI-biotech company that harnessed machine learning for small-molecule drug design. The startup raised $31 million from top investors, including YC, First Round Capital, and Ridgeback. Reverie’s platform advanced oncology therapeutics into clinical stages and proved the value of integrating deep learning with pharmaceutical research.
Reverie’s growth eventually led to its acquisition by Ginkgo Bioworks in February 2024. At Ginkgo, Gupta served as Head of AI/ML Advancement and Senior Director of ML Research. He worked on training foundation models for protein and nucleic acid design, a frontier that combines biology’s complexity with AI’s predictive power. His role emphasized collaboration with pharmaceutical firms, compute providers, and academic labs, ensuring Ginkgo’s models could accelerate real-world drug discovery.
YC Return and New Mission
Now back at YC as a General Partner, Gupta brings first-hand founder experience and deep technical expertise to help startups navigate the fast-evolving AI landscape. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is also helping YC re-establish its East Coast presence while commuting to San Francisco for the accelerator’s flagship programs.
In his announcement, Gupta reflected on YC’s early bet on Reverie Labs and expressed excitement about giving back to the ecosystem that shaped his own career. His focus at YC is clear: supporting founders who are building bold, AI-driven companies, particularly in biotech, healthcare, and other high-impact sectors.
Research, Recognition, and Broader Influence
Beyond his entrepreneurial ventures, Gupta has contributed significantly to academic research. His ICML 2017 paper, “Dilated Convolutions for Modeling Long-Distance Genomic Dependencies,” earned both the Speaker Award and Best Poster at the ICML Workshop on Computational Biology. His portfolio of projects spans diverse fields, from quantum computing to blockchain-based voting systems, predictive models for proteins, and novel algorithms for large-scale data processing.
Recognition has followed him throughout his career. At Harvard, he won multiple Derek Bok Awards for Distinction in Teaching, showcasing his ability not only to innovate but also to inspire. His visibility extends to conferences, academic circles, and online communities, where he actively shares insights on AI research and startup building.
Personal Touch Behind the Career
Despite his achievements, Gupta often emphasizes the importance of support networks. He credits his parents for encouraging him to pursue startups over more predictable career paths and frequently acknowledges his wife, Lucy Nam, for her steady support during long entrepreneurial stretches.
On X, where he has 3.5K+ followers, Gupta continues to share thoughts on AI, open-source large language models, and the challenges of entrepreneurship. He often offers to be a sounding board for founders who feel stuck, reinforcing his commitment to building community in the tech space.
With his transition to General Partner at YC, Gupta stands at the forefront of shaping AI’s role in science, healthcare, and beyond. His journey—from Harvard classrooms to startup boardrooms, and now to YC leadership—reflects both resilience and vision. For AI-driven founders entering YC, Gupta’s blend of research expertise and entrepreneurial success may prove to be one of their greatest assets.
