Recursion Pharmaceuticals vs Tempus

By valuation, Tempus is the larger company at $8.1B versus $1.8B — a 4.5x difference. Size can also be measured by team: Recursion Pharmaceuticals employs 800 people while Tempus has 2500 employees.

Tempus has raised $1.1B in disclosed funding across 5 known rounds. Recursion Pharmaceuticals's funding history is not publicly available.

Tempus leads with an Awaira Score of 84/100, while Recursion Pharmaceuticals sits at 65/100. That 19-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals was founded by Chris Gibson in 2013. Tempus was founded by Eric Lefkofsky in 2015. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a computational biology company founded in 2013 that uses artificial intelligence and high-throughput screening to accelerate drug discovery and development. The company's platform combines automated microscopy, machine learning, and large-scale biological data analysis to identify novel drug candidates and therapeutic targets across multiple disease areas. Recursion operates a proprietary laboratory automation system capable of conducting millions of experiments to map cellular and molecular responses to chemical compounds. The company has developed computational models to predict drug efficacy and safety profiles before traditional clinical testing, significantly reducing development timelines and costs. As a publicly traded company with a $2.2 billion valuation, Recursion has built partnerships with major pharmaceutical firms including Bayer and Exscientia to validate its platform's effectiveness. The company's approach focuses on rare genetic diseases and oncology, using its ability to process vast biological datasets that would be impractical through conventional methods. Recursion's competitive advantage lies in its integration of wet laboratory automation with advanced machine learning analytics, enabling systematic drug discovery at scale. The company continues to expand its internal pipeline while licensing its technology to established pharma players, positioning itself as both a drug developer and a computational biology platform provider in the AI healthcare sector. Recursion combines automated laboratory systems with machine learning to systematize drug discovery at unprecedented scale and speed. Tempus: Tempus is an AI-driven oncology and precision medicine company founded in 2015 that utilizes machine learning and data analysis to improve cancer treatment outcomes. The platform aggregates and analyzes vast datasets including clinical data, imaging, molecular information, and outcomes to identify personalized treatment strategies for cancer patients. Tempus's core technology uses artificial intelligence to match patient-specific tumor characteristics with optimal therapeutic options, enabling oncologists to make data-informed treatment decisions. The company operates primarily in the United States and serves hospitals, health systems, and oncology practices through its cloud-based platform. Its applications span multiple cancer types including lung, colorectal, breast, and ovarian cancers. Tempus has secured $1.3 billion in total funding and achieved a valuation of $8.1 billion, reflecting significant investor confidence in precision oncology. The company went public, transitioning from private to public markets. Tempus competes with other AI health platforms and precision medicine companies like Foundation Medicine and others focused on genomic analysis and treatment selection. The company's growth trajectory reflects expanding adoption of AI-driven oncology tools and increasing demand for personalized cancer treatment protocols. Its competitive positioning centers on its data infrastructure scale and machine learning capabilities applied to complex clinical decision-making. Tempus combines clinical, imaging, and molecular data through AI to provide real-time oncology treatment recommendations at scale across U.S. health systems.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals got there first, launching in 2013 — that's 2 years of extra runway. Tempus didn't arrive until 2015. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals has about 800 employees; Tempus has about 2500. 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 Recursion Pharmaceuticals and Tempus compete in AI Healthcare, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.