Executive Spotlight: DJ Patil, Co-founder of Warp Sciences (2027)
DJ Patil is a data scientist, entrepreneur and investor who is a co-founder of Warp Sciences, a startup that came out of stealth on October 22, 2026 with $215 million in funding. The Computer History Museum lists him as a cofounder of Warp Sciences, and news coverage of the launch names him alongside CEO Kevin Weil, Manohar Paluri and Solomon Reisberg.
He is best known as the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, a post he took in the Obama White House in 2015, and as a person credited with helping coin the term "data scientist." He was also the founding CTO of Devoted Health.
This page uses public professional information only.
Current role and company
Patil is a co-founder of Warp Sciences. The queue listing for this page says the same, and the sources we read agree. Some outlets, and a search summary we read, also call him chief operating officer, but the launch articles we fetched gave him no title beyond co-founder, so we use co-founder here.
- Computer History Museum profileLists him as a cofounder of Warp Sciences and founding CTO of Devoted Health.
- The Next Web (October 22, 2026)Names him as a founder of Warp Sciences, described as the White House's first chief data scientist.
- Drug Development (launch coverage)Warp is building a highly automated U.S. lab and starts with about 20 employees.
Warp Sciences works on the stage after researchers find a promising drug molecule: making and refining many versions of it. Coverage says it is not trying to discover drugs itself and positions itself as an alternative to outsourcing that work to contract research firms, often in China, such as WuXi AppTec.
Career path
- Early career. The White House's 2015 announcement says he earlier worked in the Department of Defense, bridging computational and social sciences, including social network analysis, and then at eBay, PayPal, Skype, Greylock Partners and LinkedIn.
- RelateIQ. He was Vice President of Product at RelateIQ, which Salesforce later acquired.
- White House, 2015 to 2017. Named on February 18, 2015 as Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy and Chief Data Scientist in the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- Devoted Health. Founding CTO of the health insurance company, per the Computer History Museum. Wikipedia, which we use as a pointer only, says he joined its executive team in October 2017.
- Investing. The Computer History Museum says he made early-stage investments in companies including Figma, Confluent, Tabular, Monte Carlo, Chronosphere, Sumo Logic, Ola and RelateIQ.
- Warp Sciences, 2026. Co-founded the company, which launched publicly on October 22, 2026.
The White House announcement says he holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California, San Diego and a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
What he is known for
- First U.S. Chief Data Scientist. The role covered federal data policy, partnerships to get more value from national data investments, recruiting data talent into public service, open data and the Precision Medicine Initiative.
- Coining "data scientist." Both the White House announcement and the Computer History Museum say he helped coin the term.
- Federal programs. The Computer History Museum says he led government programs on federal data, precision medicine, cancer research, criminal justice reform and national security, and received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
- Books. Wikipedia lists two O'Reilly books, Building Data Science Teams (2011) and Data Jujitsu (2012).
Leadership style and philosophy
We did not fetch an interview, talk or essay in which Patil describes his own management philosophy, and the Warp launch articles we read contain no quotes from him, so we do not characterize it here.
Key numbers (Warp Sciences, company-reported, October 2026)
These figures come from launch coverage of Warp Sciences' October 22, 2026 announcement. Warp is a private startup, so no revenue figures are public.
- Funding raised (launch round)$215 million, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with IVP, Premji Invest and Lux Capital.
- Valuation$865 million post-money, according to the company.
- Team at launchAbout 20 employees.
- Angel investorsInclude Sarah Friar, Brian Armstrong and Reid Hoffman.
What to watch next
Worth tracking: when Warp's automated U.S. lab begins taking customer work, and whether the company publishes formal titles for its founders.
Questions people ask
Who is DJ Patil?
He is a data scientist and entrepreneur, the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, and a co-founder of Warp Sciences.
What does DJ Patil do now?
He is a co-founder of Warp Sciences, which launched on October 22, 2026. Some outlets also call him chief operating officer, which the launch articles we read did not confirm.
What is Warp Sciences?
A startup building a highly automated U.S. lab to speed up drug-candidate optimization work that is often outsourced. It raised $215 million at an $865 million post-money valuation.
When was DJ Patil the White House Chief Data Scientist?
He was named on February 18, 2015, and served in the Obama administration until 2017, per the White House announcement and Wikipedia.
Did DJ Patil coin the term data scientist?
The White House and the Computer History Museum say he helped coin it, a credit shared with others.
Sources
- Computer History Museum: DJ Patil · Warp Sciences cofounder, Devoted Health, honors, investments
- The Next Web: Warp Sciences launch (October 22, 2026) · Funding, valuation, founders, team size
- Drug Development: Warp Sciences launch · What Warp does, investors, founders
- AI Weekly: Warp Sciences exits stealth · Launch date, investors, founders
- White House archive: Dr. DJ Patil named first U.S. Chief Data Scientist (February 18, 2015) · Appointment, prior roles, education
- Wikipedia: DJ Patil · Pointer only; dates and books cross-checked
Facts were read from the linked pages on October 31, 2026. Some pages were read through a fetch tool that returns summaries, so confirm details on the original page. The hero photo is by Christopher Michel via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Funding figures are company-reported via press coverage. This page covers public professional information only.
Top photo: Christopher Michel / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons