Orakl Oncology raises €3 million to develop its techbio platform forprecision oncology
October 9, 2023 – Biotechnology – Orakl Oncology, funding
4 October 2023 — Paris, France — Orakl Oncology, a precision oncology
start-up, today announces that it has raised €3m to develop its techbio platform that
integrates best-in-class biology with real-world patient data at scale to accurately model
tumours and accelerate oncology drug development.
A major challenge in oncology is that drug candidates meet patients too late in the
development process. This leads to a 96% failure rate in clinical trials and missed treatment
opportunities for cancer patients.
The future of cancer treatment and drug development relies on recognizing that each tumour
is different. In response to this unmet need, Orakl Oncology is combining cell biology,
engineering and machine learning (ML) to build unique tumour avatars for each individual cancer
patient that can mimic real-life responses to drugs.
Orakl Oncology’s growing collection of avatars captures the complexity and heterogeneity of
cancer at the population scale, helping pharma and biotech companies to identify new
therapeutic targets or predictive biomarkers and increase clinical trial success rates.
Dr Fanny Jaulin, Orakl Oncology CEO & co-founder, commented, “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. We are delighted with the result of this oversubscribed
fundraising round, and we are very grateful to all our investors for their support.”
Launched in 2023 as a spin-out from the Gustave Roussy Institute by co-founders Fanny
Jaulin, Diane-Laure Pagès and Gustave Ronteix, Orakl Oncology is targeting the global
oncology market, with an initial focus on colorectal and pancreatic cancers – the second
leading-cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
Prof Fabrice Barlesi, general director of Gustave Roussy, commented, “We are very proud
of Gustave-Roussy’s spin-out, Orakl Oncology. They aim to disrupt precision oncology by
leveraging major academic and pharma partnerships to accelerate drug development,
ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.”
The funding will be used to launch the company’s wet and dry lab capabilities and to hire
several key team members, including a senior oncology scientist, organoid scientists, a
head of Lab, an automation engineer and an AI research scientist. This will enable Orakl
Oncology to execute its first contracts with pharma and biotech partners.
The investment round was led by Speedinvest with additional investment from HCVC and
Verve Ventures.
Andrea Zitna, partner at Speedinvest, commented, “Orakl’s co-founders have a powerful
mix of scientific credentials, ambitious vision and entrepreneurial drive. 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!”
Xavier Mesnier, principal at Verve Ventures, commented, “Having an accurate and scalable
representation of biology and heterogeneity in the patient population is key to advancing
drug discovery. Orakl’s tumour avatar platform delivers this at scale by combining patient
samples with automation and ML.”
Alexis Houssou, managing partner at HCVC, commented, “We’re really excited to be
supporting Orakl on their mission to accelerate the development of patient-specific tumour
therapies. We believe in breakthrough solutions that combine biology, data and AI – and
we’re thrilled to be a part of Orakl’s journey.”
About Orakl Oncology
Orakl Oncology leverages tumour avatars that combine best-in-class biology with high-quality
clinical and molecular data at scale. Our techbio platform enables oncology players to
identify relevant targets and deliver better drugs, faster. As a spin-out from the Gustave
Roussy Institute, the world’s 3rd best cancer center, Orakl Oncology was co-founded by a
team of seasoned experts with decades of international experience in cancer cell biology
and engineering. Learn more at: www.orakl-oncology.com.
