Cancilico, an AI diagnostics startup specializing in blood cancer, announced today the successful closing of its €2.5 million Seed financing round. The investment was led by a strong consortium including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), TGFS - Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, GEDAD GmbH (investment vehicle of Ehninger family), and ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft (Roland Oetker).
The funding will accelerate Cancilico’s mission to establish its AI-based diagnostic software MyeloAID as a routine tool to improve the standard of care for blood cancer patients worldwide and to accelerate digital biomarker development in hematological malignancies.
MyeloAID aims to become the game-changer in the diagnosis of hematological malignancies by using advanced artificial intelligence to analyze bone marrow samples with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The underlying data model of Cancilico’s AI-diagnosis is based on a large validated data set of various malignancies as well as data from healthy individuals. Partnerships with hematopathology centers further enhance the data model and cooperation with pharma partners show initial results for accelerated development of biomarkers and therapeutic options for hematological malignancies.
Especially in times when we face a shortage of trained hematologists, such supporting technologies are urgently needed to ensure clinical availability and precision medicine. A unique feature of MyeloAID is the design as a platform-independent solution. The technology can be implemented on any standard imaging microscope or scanner, allowing laboratories to upgrade their current diagnostic capabilities without replacing existing hardware infrastructure. Further, the AI-diagnosis is already available and used as a RUO variant via Smart In Media’s PathoZoom Scan & LiveView Suite.
"We are convinced to invest in a winning team and a superior technology that has already gained commercial traction with its 'Research Use Only' data models," said Dr. Jörg Traub, Principal at HTGF. "The team combines entrepreneurial spirit with deep technical and clinical knowledge. Cancilico has established a convincing AI model using training data that includes not only diseased patient samples but also healthy datasets, allowing for better and faster classification."
The experienced and multidisciplinary team including CEO Markus Badstübner, CMO Dr. Moritz Middeke, Tim Schmittmann, Sebastian Riechert, Dr. Jan Eckardt, Dr. Karsten Wendt, and Angel Investor Prof. Gerhard Ehninger, operates at the intersection of data science and clinical hematology.
"We are facing a global shortage of hematologists, yet the complexity of diagnostic cases is rising," said Markus Badstübner, CEO and Co-Founder of Cancilico. "Our goal is to democratize access to expert-level diagnostics. This investment allows us to navigate the FDA and CE-IVDR regulatory landscapes and bring a tool to market that integrates seamlessly with existing lab hardware to improve patient outcomes without heavy capital expenditure."
"Bone marrow analysis is one of the most complex and time-intensive disciplines in hematology," added Dr. Moritz Middeke, CMO and Co-Founder. "By training our AI on a diverse range of healthy and pathological datasets, we developed a tool that acts as a highly skilled 'digital colleague'. This funding is a crucial step toward bringing this technology to the labs, where it will help to make faster, more accurate diagnoses for blood cancer patients."