Orakl Oncology, a precision oncology drug discovery start-up in France, has announced that it has successfully funded three million euros to build its techbio platform. The business asserts that its platform can mimic tumors and accelerate the development of cancer drugs by integrating biology with data collected from actual patients.
Speedinvest was the primary investor in this fundraising round, including participation from HCVC and Verve Ventures.
According to Dr. Fanny Jaulin, CEO and co-founder of Orakl Oncology, the company’s goal is to become a world-leading tech bio platform by using the smartest collection of tumor avatars to improve oncology drug discovery and offer faster, smarter, and more cost-effective therapies to patients. “Our ambition is to become a world-leading tech platform.”
“We are delighted with the result of this oversubscribed fundraising round, and we are very grateful to all of our investors for their support,” she continues.
Orakl Oncology uses tumor avatars that merge top-tier biology with extensive clinical and molecular data. The company’s techbio platform expedites the development of drugs and aids cancer specialists in finding crucial targets.
It is currently ranked as the third-best cancer center in the world. In the field of cancer, potential medication candidates frequently reach patients at an advanced research stage. Due to the difficulty of this task, 96 percent of clinical trials are unsuccessful, which results in lost possibilities for treating cancer.
Recognizing the specific characteristics of each tumor is a critical step in the progression of cancer research and therapy development. To fill this need, Orakl Oncology uses a combination of cell biology, engineering, and machine learning to develop individualized tumor avatars that simulate the effects of actual drugs.
Orakl Oncology’s growing avatar collection captures the complexity and diversity of cancer on a massive scale. This helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies find novel treatment targets and predictive biomarkers, boosting clinical trial success rates.
Orakl was established in 2023 as a spin-off company of the Gustave Roussy Institute by Jaulin and two of her colleagues, Diane-Laure Pagès and Gustave Ronteix. The firm has its sights set on the globe’s oncology sector, and it is now ranked as the third-best cancer center in the whole world.
“We are very proud of Gustave-Roussy’s spin-out, Orakl Oncology,” says Professor Fabrice Barlesi, who serves as the general director of Gustave Roussy.
“They aim to disrupt precision oncology by leveraging major academic and pharma partnerships to accelerate drug development, which will ultimately lead to better patient outcomes,” he says. “This will ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.”
The research and treatment efforts of Orakl Oncology are primarily concentrated on colorectal and pancreatic cancers, which together are recognized as the second biggest cause of death worldwide due to cancer.
Laboratory with both wet and dry areas
According to Orakl Oncology, the most recent financing will allow the company to build its wet and dry lab capabilities. The business intends to fill key positions on its team with new hires, including a senior cancer scientist, organoid scientist, head of the lab, automation engineer, and an AI research scientist.
The firm will now be able to launch its inaugural contracts with pharmaceutical and biotech partners as a direct result of these acquisitions.
What the investors have to say about it
Andrea Zitna, a partner at Speedinvest, says, “Orakl’s co-founders have a powerful mix of scientific credentials, ambitious vision, and entrepreneurial drive.”
The company’s dry and wet lab procedures, the caliber of its biobank, and the scope of its partnership with Gustave Roussy astounded us. Zitna says, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be taking this journey alongside them.”
Additionally agreeing is Xavier Mesnier, principal of Verve Ventures, who echoes the same view.
“Having an accurate and scalable representation of biology and heterogeneity in the patient population is key to advancing drug discovery,” adds Mesnier. The tumor avatar platform that Orakl developed enables the delivery of this capability at scale by combining patient samples with automation and machine learning.
