In 2017, CZ Biohub selected an initial group of scientists for its first cohort of Investigators, individuals chosen from the three partner universities to each receive $1 million in funding for five years of innovative research in the life sciences.

[16][17] In 2021, Chan and Zuckerberg announced that they intended to provide a further $800 million to $1 billion to CZ Biohub over 10 years, extending the organization's funding through 2031.

[20] The Biohub is a non-profit biomedical research organization[21] that was created to support the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's efforts to cure, prevent, or manage all disease by the end of the century.

[12] The Investigator Program provides five years of funding to scientists from a variety of disciplines who are faculty members at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCSF.

[12] The investigator grants are unrestricted, and focused on supporting research that may not be sufficiently developed to qualify for funding from the pharmaceutical industry or the National Institutes of Health.

[6][12] CZ Biohub is structured as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, but it has retained close control of the outcomes of its efforts, including patent rights.

[18][19] In December 2021, Chan and Zuckerberg announced that they were providing $1 billion in funding to develop a network of Biohubs to focus on their goal of longer-term research over 10 to 15 years into "scientific challenges".