Astera Institute is a private foundation with a $2.5 billion endowment on a mission to steer science and technology toward an abundant future. The institute operates through three core divisions: Neuro & AGI, focused on directed neuroscience and AI research to engineer safe and successful general intelligence systems; Radial, a life sciences research division that funds and runs high-impact fundamental scientific challenges; and Foundation, which provides centralized operational and financial support while leading residency programs and strategic investments.
Unlike traditional non-profit research organizations, projects supported by Astera operate like high-velocity startups, allowing the organization to focus on ambitious goals, match structure to problem, and attract strong technical talent and leadership. Astera aims to rebuild the machinery of science for the AI era by supporting the creation of public goods to accelerate scientific and technological progress - including non-proprietary infrastructure, tools, datasets, playbooks, and standards. The institute leverages its substantial resources and risk tolerance to experiment with unexplored approaches, embracing scientific and technical risk to chase impact at scale.