Stripe, Anthropic, OpenAI and Gates Back Intercept, a $500 Million Fund to End Respiratory Viruses

Intercept, a $500 million philanthropic initiative led by Nan Ransohoff and backed by Stripe, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, the Flu Lab, Bill Gates, and Jane Street traders, will fund broad-spectrum preventatives and air-cleaning technologies like far-UVC light to make respiratory infections a thing of the past.

Stripe, Anthropic, OpenAI and Gates Back Intercept, a $500 Million Fund to End Respiratory Viruses Intercept, a $500 million philanthropic initiative led by Nan Ransohoff and backed by Stripe, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, the Flu Lab, Bill Gates, and Jane Street traders, will fund broad-spectrum preventatives and air-cleaning technologies like far-UVC light to make respiratory infections a thing of the past. Aaron Rafferty June 24, 2026 Key Takeaways Intercept, a new $500 million philanthropic fund, launched June 24 to make respiratory infections like the common cold and flu a thing of the past, according to MIT Technology Review. Anchor funders include Stripe, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, the Flu Lab, Bill Gates, and traders from Jane Street, with money aimed at broad-spectrum preventatives and air cleaning. Respiratory viruses kill roughly 1 million people a year and cost an estimated $600 billion in lost productivity, the kind of public good that markets and donors have left underfunded. A group of technology companies and billionaire donors is putting $500 million behind a single goal, ending respiratory infections. The fund, called Intercept, launched June 24 and is backed by Stripe, Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, the Flu Lab, Bill Gates, and several traders at Jane Street, according to MIT Technology Review and TIME . Intercept is led by Nan Ransohoff, who previously ran Stripe's climate program. The case she laid out at launch is that respiratory viruses get treated as a minor nuisance when the numbers say otherwise. People spend roughly 5 percent of their lives sick from them, the viruses kill about 1 million people a year, cost an estimated $600 billion in annual productivity, and periodically threaten the world with pandemics. The fund will us