Exscientia vs Butterfly Network

Butterfly Network has a disclosed valuation of $957M, while Exscientia's valuation is not publicly available, making a direct size comparison difficult. Butterfly Network employs 500-1000 people.

Exscientia has raised more in total funding at $500M, compared to Butterfly Network's $370M — a gap of $130M. Combined, the two companies have completed 6 known funding rounds.

Butterfly Network leads with an Awaira Score of 85/100, while Exscientia sits at 72/100. That 13-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Exscientia was founded by Andrew Hopkins in 2012. Butterfly Network was founded by John Martin in 2011. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Exscientia: Exscientia is an AI-driven drug design company that uses automated design-make-test-analyse cycles to generate drug candidates with the goal of reducing the time and cost of small molecule drug discovery. The Oxford-originated company builds generative chemistry models and automated laboratory robotics that together create a closed-loop system for molecular design, synthesis, and assay testing, producing candidates in months rather than the years required by conventional medicinal chemistry programmes.\n\nThe company went public on NASDAQ under the ticker EXAI, having raised over $500 million in combined public and private funding from investors including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, SoftBank, and GT Healthcare Capital Partners. Exscientia has clinical-stage programmes in oncology and neuropsychiatry and reports being the first company to advance AI-designed drug candidates into human clinical trials. The company has multiple pharma partnerships including agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi, and Evotec that provide milestone and royalty revenue.\n\nExscientia competes in the AI drug design space against Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Schrodinger, Relay Therapeutics, and Insilico Medicine. The company differentiates through its integrated automated laboratory approach, which combines computational design with physical synthesis and testing in a single workflow rather than treating AI design as a separate step before conventional chemistry. Its public market position and disclosed clinical programmes provide transparency benchmarks against which the broader AI drug discovery sector is measured by investors and pharmaceutical partners. Butterfly Network: Butterfly Network produces the Butterfly iQ, a handheld ultrasound device powered by a proprietary semiconductor chip that replaces traditional piezoelectric transducer arrays with a single silicon chip capable of whole-body imaging. The AI software layer provides real-time image interpretation guidance, enabling clinicians with limited ultrasound training to perform diagnostic scans at the bedside.\n\nThe company is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker BFLY and raised over 700 million USD prior to and through its public listing. Butterfly has deployed devices across hospitals, emergency rooms, and point-of-care settings in over 50 countries, with particular penetration in resource-limited healthcare settings where traditional ultrasound equipment is prohibitively expensive or unavailable.\n\nPortable AI-assisted diagnostic imaging represents a structural shift in how and where medical imaging is performed. Butterfly Network has created a defensible position through its proprietary chip architecture, which competitors cannot easily replicate, and through its growing library of AI-assisted clinical guidance tools. The transition from hospital-based imaging to point-of-care diagnostics powered by AI guidance is a multi-decade trend that positions Butterfly at the center of a fundamental change in diagnostic medicine. Butterfly Network operates in the AI Healthcare sector and is headquartered in United States. Founded in 2011 by John Martin, Butterfly Network has raised $370M in total funding, achieving a valuation of $957M as of its latest round. The company's funding journey includes a Seed of $11.1M in 2011, a Series A of $29.6M in 2012, a Series B of $66.6M in 2014, a Series C of $114.7M in 2015, a Series D of $148M in 2016. With approximately 500-1000 employees, Butterfly Network has established itself as a Public-stage player in the AI Healthcare market. The company holds an Awaira Score of 85/100, reflecting its strong position across valuation, funding trajectory, team scale, and market influence. Butterfly Network competes in a rapidly evolving segment alongside other AI Healthcare companies. Based in United States, Butterfly Network is part of a growing international AI ecosystem attracting talent and investment. The AI Healthcare space has attracted significant investment in recent years, with companies racing to capture enterprise and consumer demand for AI-powered solutions.

Butterfly Network got there first, launching in 2011 — that's 1 year of extra runway. Exscientia didn't arrive until 2012. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Exscientia has about 100-500 employees; Butterfly Network has about 500-1000. A bigger team usually means more revenue or heavier VC backing, but in AI, small teams can build at massive scale.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Exscientia and Butterfly Network compete in AI Healthcare, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.