Buchanan Investments Announces Investment in Virtual Labs
Austin, Texas company applies AI cameras and digital twins of lab mice to animal studies; website launched October 1
DALLAS–FORT WORTH, Texas, October 4, 2026 – Buchanan Investments, the private investment platform led by Buchanan Technologies founder Jim Buchanan, today announced an investment in Virtual Labs, Inc., an Austin, Texas company founded by David Roberson, PhD. Virtual Labs launched its website on October 1.
“Animal studies decide which drugs reach humans, yet the readout that matters most, what the animal actually does, is still scored by hand. That ends now. Our AI cameras score it with machine precision without changing how a lab runs its assays — and that same data trains digital twins, starting with virtual control groups, so studies use fewer animals and predict more,” said David Roberson, PhD, Founder and CEO of Virtual Labs.
“Building Buchanan Technologies taught me to look for founders who start with a real problem and build something useful,” said Jim Buchanan, CEO of Buchanan Investments. “David is working on a problem at the center of how new drugs are tested, in a way that fits how labs already work.”
About Virtual Labs
Every drug is tested on animals before it reaches a person. Virtual Labs is changing how: AI cameras that measure behavior with machine precision, and digital twins of lab mice trained on that data to stand in for control groups in any live study, so every experiment needs fewer animals and predicts more. Virtual Labs, Inc. is based in Austin, Texas, and is led by founder and CEO David Roberson, PhD. Learn more at www.virtuallabs.ai.
About Buchanan Investments
Buchanan Investments is a private investment platform shaped by more than three decades of building, operating, investing, and learning across technology, AI, real estate, and public markets. Led by Jim Buchanan, who founded Buchanan Technologies in 1988, the firm takes an operator’s view: experience first, capital second. Buchanan Investments is based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. Learn more at www.buchanan-investments.com.
Media contacts
Buchanan Investments: Jim Buchanan, buchanan@buchanan-investments.com
Virtual Labs: David Roberson, PhD, MBA, +1 512-300-6939, david@virtuallabs.ai
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