France-based Orakl Oncology, a precision oncology drug discovery start-up, announced that it has raised €3M to develop its techbio platform. The company claims the platform integrates biology and real-world patient data to model tumours and speed up oncology drug development.
The funding round was led by Speedinvest, with the participation of HCVC and Verve Ventures.
“Our ambition is to become a world-leading techbio platform leveraging the smartest collection of tumour avatars to transform oncology drug development and bring faster, smarter and more cost-effective treatments to patients,” says Dr Fanny Jaulin, CEO and co-founder of Orakl Oncology.
“We are delighted with the result of this oversubscribed fundraising round, and we are very grateful to all our investors for their support,” she adds.
Orakl Oncology uses tumour avatars that merge top-tier biology with extensive clinical and molecular data. The company’s techbio platform helps oncology experts find important targets and expedite drug development.
Third-best cancer centre in the world
In oncology, drug candidates often reach patients too late in development. This challenge results in a 96 per cent clinical trial failure rate and missed cancer treatment opportunities.
The future of cancer treatment and drug development hinges on recognising the uniqueness of each tumour. To address this gap, Orakl Oncology combines cell biology, engineering, and machine learning to create individualised tumour avatars, mimicking real drug responses.
Orakl Oncology’s expanding avatar collection captures cancer’s complexity and diversity on a large scale, aiding pharmaceutical and biotech firms in identifying new therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers, thereby boosting clinical trial success rates.
Jaulin and her peers, Diane-Laure Pagès and Gustave Ronteix, launched Orakl in 2023 as a spin-out from the Gustave Roussy Institute. Ranked as the third-best cancer centre in the world, the company has the global oncology market in its sights.
“We are very proud of Gustave-Roussy’s spin-out, Orakl Oncology,” says Prof Fabrice Barlesi, general director of Gustave Roussy.
“They aim to disrupt precision oncology by leveraging major academic and pharma partnerships to accelerate drug development, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes,” he adds.
Orakl Oncology focuses research and treatment on colorectal and pancreatic cancers, which are ranked as the second leading cause of global cancer-related fatalities.
Wet and dry lab establishment
Orakl Oncology says the recent funding will enable it to establish its wet and dry lab capabilities. The company plans to recruit essential team members such as a senior oncology scientist, organoid scientists, a head of lab, an automation engineer, and an AI research scientist.
These additions will empower the company to initiate its initial contracts with pharmaceutical and biotech partners.
What the investors say
“Orakl’s co-founders have a powerful mix of scientific credentials, ambitious vision and entrepreneurial drive,” says Andrea Zitna, partner at Speedinvest.
“We were impressed by the company’s dry and wet lab techniques, the quality of their biobank and the scope of their exclusive relationship with Gustave Roussy. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with them, adds Zitna.”
Xavier Mesnier, Principal at Verve Ventures, also shares the same sentiment.
“Having an accurate and scalable representation of biology and heterogeneity in the patient population is key to advancing drug discovery,” Mesnier says. “Orakl’s tumour avatar platform delivers this at scale by combining patient samples with automation and machine learning.”
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