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Institutions & people

Oncology startups

Investors →All companies

Every young company in OnCo that is going after cancer: Y Combinator companies from the open YC directory, and venture-backed startups across therapeutics, diagnostics, AI drug discovery, digital care, radiotherapy hardware, surgery and imaging. Filter by stage, modality, cancer, YC batch, investor and country. Funding rounds are listed only where a press release, filing or trade report states them; investors are named on the startup, and each investor page derives its portfolio from those links.

300 startups62 from Y Combinator across 25 batches70 investors, 64 with a portfolio here188 sourced rounds (2018 to 2026)
Startup143 companiesGrowth stage75 companiesPublic33 companiesLarge private0 companiesAcquired37 companiesWound down7 companies

YC oncology

Source: open YC directory dataset

Y Combinator companies whose stated work is cancer: detection, diagnostics, therapeutics, care delivery and the tools around them. Each one was checked against its YC profile and website. Click a batch to filter the table; the snapshot with every hit and how it was classified is in src/data/universe-lists/yc-oncology.json.

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300 startups
Kelonia Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US · founded 2020
Kelonia developed a way to create CAR T cells directly inside the body using a targeted gene delivery particle, so patients do not need their cells removed and manufactured. Its lead programme is for multiple myeloma and Eli Lilly agreed to buy the company in 2026 for up to $7 billion.
Thyme Care
Nashville, TN, US · founded 2020
Thyme Care gives people with cancer a 24 hour phone and app based support team of oncology nurses and social workers, paid for by their health insurer. It aims to keep people out of hospital and lower the cost of cancer care.
Naveris
Waltham, MA, US · founded 2017
Naveris makes NavDx, a blood test that tracks DNA from the HPV virus shed by tumours, so doctors can confirm HPV-related throat and anal cancers and catch them coming back after treatment. It was bought by CareDx in 2026.
Quantum Surgical
Montpellier, FR · founded 2017
Quantum Surgical builds Epione, a robot that helps doctors guide needles through the skin to destroy liver and other tumours with heat or cold, making a minimally invasive treatment more precise and easier for less experienced operators.
MaaT Pharma
Lyon, FR · founded 2014
MaaT Pharma makes gut microbiome treatments for people with blood cancer. Its lead product restores gut bacteria to treat a severe complication of stem cell transplants when standard drugs fail.
Perimeter Medical Imaging AI
Toronto, CA · founded 2013
Perimeter makes a scanner that gives surgeons a microscope-level 3D look at the edges of tissue they have just removed during breast cancer surgery, with artificial intelligence flagging suspicious areas, so they can take more tissue immediately rather than bringing the patient back for a second operation.
Adcendo
Copenhagen, DK
Adcendo is a Danish company developing antibody-drug conjugates, antibodies that deliver a cell-killing drug straight to cancer cells, against targets few others are pursuing. Its first medicines are in early human trials, including one for soft tissue sarcoma.
Allotera Therapeutics (formerly Wugen)
St. Louis, MO, US
Allotera, formerly Wugen, makes off-the-shelf CAR T-cell therapies from healthy donor cells for T-cell leukaemias and lymphomas, which are hard to treat with conventional CAR T because the cancer cells look like the therapy cells. Its lead product is in a global pivotal trial.
Arcellx
Redwood City, CA, US
Arcellx developed anito-cel, a CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma that reprogrammes a patient's own immune cells to attack a marker called BCMA. Gilead bought the company in 2026 for about $7.8 billion ahead of a possible US approval.
ClearNote Health
San Diego, CA, US
ClearNote Health sells blood tests that look for chemical marks on DNA fragments in the blood to catch pancreatic and ovarian cancer early in people at high risk.
Cullgen
San Diego, CA, US
Cullgen designs drugs that tag disease-causing proteins for destruction by the cell's own recycling system, and links such drugs to antibodies. In May 2026 it became part of Gyre Therapeutics, a US and China company focused on fibrosis.
Empyrean Medical Systems
Boca Raton, FL, US
Empyrean Medical Systems, of Florida, develops radiotherapy machines that use magnetic fields to shape high-energy electron beams, an MD Anderson approach designed for both conventional and FLASH dose rates, plus Vektra, a robotic arm for delivering radiation during surgery. None of its patient-treatment devices is yet cleared for sale.
Firefly Bio
South San Francisco, CA, US
Firefly Bio attaches protein-destroying molecules to antibodies so they are delivered only into cancer cells, a new twist on antibody-drug conjugates. Johnson & Johnson bought the company for about 1 billion dollars in 2026.
GT Medical Technologies
Tempe, AZ, US
GT Medical Technologies makes GammaTile, small dissolvable collagen tiles containing radioactive caesium seeds that a neurosurgeon places in the cavity left after removing a brain tumour, so radiation starts immediately and the patient avoids weeks of daily radiotherapy visits.
Kanvas Biosciences
Monmouth Junction, NJ, US
Kanvas maps which bacteria live in the gut and turns that knowledge into bacterial medicines that help cancer immunotherapy work better and treat its gut side effects.
Monteris Medical
Minnetonka, MN, US
Monteris makes NeuroBlate, a system that lets a neurosurgeon destroy a brain tumour from the inside with a laser fibre inserted through a small hole in the skull while watching the heat spread on a live MRI scan, avoiding open brain surgery.
Myricx Bio
London, GB
Myricx Bio invented a new kind of cancer-killing payload, which blocks an enzyme tumour cells need to survive, and attaches it to antibodies that carry it into tumours. Novartis bought the London company in 2026 for 1.1 billion dollars up front.
Neomorph
San Diego, CA, US
Neomorph makes small molecules called molecular glues that stick a disease protein to the cell's disposal machinery so it is destroyed. Its first drug is in an early trial for clear cell kidney cancer.
Nucleus RadioPharma
Rochester, MN, US
Nucleus RadioPharma does not make its own cancer drugs; it manufactures and ships radioactive cancer medicines for other companies, which is hard because the drugs decay within days. It is expanding its plants in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
Nykode Therapeutics
Oslo, NO
Nykode makes cancer vaccines that teach the immune system to attack tumours. One is built from each patient's own tumour mutations; another targets cancers caused by the HPV16 virus, such as cervical cancer.
Obsidian Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Obsidian grows a patient's own tumour-fighting immune cells and engineers them with a switch that lets doctors control a growth signal (IL-15) with an oral drug, aiming to make TIL therapy safer and more effective for melanoma and lung cancer. It listed on Nasdaq in August 2026 after raising $350 million.
OSE Immunotherapeutics
Nantes, FR
OSE Immunotherapeutics develops immune treatments for cancer and inflammatory disease. Its lead cancer product is an off-the-shelf vaccine for lung cancer patients whose immunotherapy has stopped working, now in a late-stage trial.
Ratio Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Ratio Therapeutics, of Boston, designs small molecules that carry a radioactive isotope to fibroblast activation protein, a protein on the supporting tissue of sarcomas and other solid tumours, so radiation is delivered from inside the body. Its lead, an actinium-225 radioligand, is in the ATLAS phase 1/2 trial in advanced sarcomas.
Reimagine Care
Nashville, TN, US
Reimagine Care gives cancer patients a text based assistant and oncology trained nurses available around the clock, so side effects can be handled at home instead of in an emergency department. It was bought by the French company Cureety in 2026.
Repare Therapeutics
Montreal, CA
Repare Therapeutics was a Montreal cancer drug developer working on drugs that stop tumours repairing their own DNA. In January 2026 it was bought by a non-profit called XenoTherapeutics and its shares stopped trading.
Trial Library
San Francisco, CA, US · founded 2022
Trial Library is software that helps everyday cancer clinics spot which patients might qualify for a clinical trial, refer them, and remove practical barriers like transport so more people, especially in under served communities, can join trials.
ARTBIO
Cambridge, MA, US · founded 2021
ARTBIO makes cancer treatments that deliver short-range alpha radiation from lead-212 directly to tumour cells, starting with prostate cancer. Its first medicine is in early human trials, currently paused by the company while it reviews data.
Treeline Biosciences
Watertown, MA, US · founded 2021
Treeline Biosciences is a well-funded private company building cancer drugs of several kinds, including a pill that blocks all forms of the KRAS cancer protein and drugs for lymphoma.
Ambagon Therapeutics
Eindhoven, NL · founded 2020
Ambagon Therapeutics designs small molecules that act like glue, locking a hub protein called 14-3-3 onto its partner proteins to switch them on or off. It is an early-stage company with cancer and brain disease programmes.
Capstan Therapeutics
San Diego, CA, US · founded 2020
Capstan built a way to create CAR T cells inside the patient's body by delivering messenger RNA in targeted lipid nanoparticles, avoiding the need to manufacture cells outside the body. AbbVie bought it in 2025 for $2.1 billion.
Scorpion Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US · founded 2020
Scorpion Therapeutics was a Boston start-up that designed a cancer pill, STX-478, aimed only at the mutated form of a growth protein called PI3K-alpha, sparing the normal form. Eli Lilly bought the programme in 2025.
Triana Biomedicines
Lexington, MA, US · founded 2019
Triana Biomedicines designs molecular glues that make cancer cells destroy their own faulty proteins. Its first drug, TRI-611, removes the ALK fusion protein that drives a subset of lung cancers and has entered human trials.
Halda Therapeutics
New Haven, CT, US · founded 2018
Halda Therapeutics invented a new kind of oral cancer drug that links a protein found only in tumour cells to a protein cells need to survive, killing the cancer cell. Johnson & Johnson bought the company for 3.05 billion US dollars in 2025.
Outcomes4Me
Boston, MA, US · founded 2017
Outcomes4Me is a free app that turns official cancer treatment guidelines into plain language options for each patient, and also tracks symptoms, explains genetic tests and finds clinical trials.
Ataraxis AI
New York, NY, US
Ataraxis AI analyses digitised breast tumour slides with artificial intelligence to estimate how likely a cancer is to return and whether chemotherapy is likely to help, returning results in a day without using up tissue.
Blueprint Medicines
Cambridge, MA, US
Blueprint Medicines invented Ayvakit, a pill approved for systemic mastocytosis and for a rare gut tumour called GIST that carries a specific mutation. The French drug maker Sanofi bought the company in 2025.
BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics
South San Francisco, CA, US
BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics (BBOT) makes pills against the KRAS cancer protein and a drug that stops KRAS from switching on a second growth signal called PI3K-alpha. All three drugs are in early human trials.
Callio Therapeutics
Seattle, WA, US
Callio Therapeutics makes antibodies that carry two different cancer-killing drugs at once to HER2-positive tumours, to stop cancers escaping treatment. Its first medicine entered human trials in 2026.
CARGO Therapeutics
San Carlos, CA, US
CARGO developed a CAR T-cell therapy aimed at a protein called CD22 for patients with large B-cell lymphoma whose cancer had come back after CD19 CAR T treatment. It went public in 2023 and was bought by Concentra Biosciences in 2025 after winding down development.
Cyted Health
Cambridge, GB
Cyted Health offers a swallowable capsule on a string that collects cells from the whole food pipe in a nurse-led appointment, so people with heartburn can be checked for Barrett's oesophagus and early oesophageal cancer without an endoscopy.
Deep 6 AI
Pasadena, CA, US
Deep 6 AI made software that reads hospital records, including free text notes, to find patients who match clinical trial criteria in minutes. It was bought by the genomics and data company Tempus in 2025.
Evergreen Theragnostics
Springfield, NJ, US
Evergreen Theragnostics manufactures radioactive cancer medicines for other companies and develops its own imaging agent for neuroendocrine tumours and a treatment for small cell lung cancer. Lantheus agreed to buy it in 2025.
IGM Biosciences
Mountain View, CA, US
IGM Biosciences engineered antibodies of the IgM class, which have ten binding arms instead of two, originally as T-cell engagers for blood cancers and later for autoimmune disease. It ended development and was bought by Concentra Biosciences in 2025.
Imagene AI
Miami, FL, US
Imagene AI trains large artificial intelligence models on ordinary stained biopsy images so that, within minutes, a slide can predict which gene changes a lung tumour carries, helping doctors decide on targeted drugs before slower genetic tests return.
Indapta Therapeutics
Houston, TX, US
Indapta Therapeutics, of Houston, makes IDP-023, an off-the-shelf natural killer cell therapy from donor g-NK cells, a subset that lacks the FcR gamma chain, and tests it alongside antibody drugs in myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and in progressive multiple sclerosis. The FDA granted Fast Track status in 2024, and efficacy data are still early.
OncoHost
Binyamina, IL
OncoHost sells a blood test that measures hundreds of proteins before treatment starts to predict whether a lung cancer patient will benefit from immunotherapy drugs.
Orum Therapeutics
Daejeon, KR
Orum Therapeutics attaches protein-destroying drugs to antibodies so they are delivered only into cancer cells. Its lead medicine for acute myeloid leukaemia is entering human trials, and the company is listed on the Korean stock market.
Owlstone Medical
Cambridge, GB
Owlstone Medical, of Cambridge, UK, develops breath tests: a person breathes into its ReCIVA collector and the volatile chemicals are analysed to look for early lung cancer and liver disease. A 49 million dollar ARPA-H award funds a home breath and urine test for more than 30 solid tumours at stage I, still in development.
Pathos AI
New York, NY, US
Pathos AI trains multimodal artificial intelligence models on millions of cancer patients' genomic, imaging, text and outcome records to choose which experimental drugs to develop and which patients to test them in. It has licensed a TROP2/HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate and an oestrogen receptor degrader, and raised a 365 million dollar Series D in 2025.
Plexium
San Diego, CA, US
Plexium makes single-piece pills that make cancer cells destroy specific proteins. Its lead drug removes a protein called SMARCA2 in tumours that have lost its partner SMARCA4, and is in an early human trial.
Poseida Therapeutics
San Diego, CA, US
Poseida developed off-the-shelf CAR T-cell therapies made from healthy donor cells rather than from each patient, for multiple myeloma and B-cell cancers. Roche bought the company in early 2025 for up to about $1.5 billion.
Strand Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Strand makes programmable messenger RNA medicines that switch on only inside tumours. Its first drug is injected into a tumour and makes cells there produce an immune-boosting signal.
Transgene
Strasbourg, FR
Transgene uses modified viruses to make cancer immunotherapies. Its lead product is a personalised vaccine built from each patient's tumour mutations, given after surgery to stop head and neck cancer coming back.
Turnstone Biologics
San Diego, CA, US
Turnstone developed 'selected' tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, enriching the most cancer-reactive immune cells from a patient's tumour. It stopped its clinical programme in January 2025 and was bought by XOMA Royalty later that year.
Vergent Bioscience
Minneapolis, MN, US
Vergent Bioscience is testing an injectable dye that makes lung tumours glow during keyhole and robotic surgery, so surgeons can find small or hidden tumours and check that all of the cancer has been removed.
Noetik
South San Francisco, CA, US · founded 2023
Noetik builds artificial intelligence models of tumours from huge sets of tissue images and molecular data, to predict which patients will respond to a cancer drug and to find new targets.
Mariana Oncology
Watertown, MA, US · founded 2021
Mariana Oncology designs small protein fragments that carry a radioactive isotope to tumours, starting with small cell lung cancer. Novartis bought the company in 2024 for 1 billion dollars up front.
Radionetics Oncology
San Diego, CA, US · founded 2021
Radionetics Oncology makes small-molecule drugs that carry a radioactive isotope to receptors on the surface of cancer cells that have rarely been targeted before. Eli Lilly paid 140 million dollars in 2024 for the right to buy the company for 1 billion dollars.
Affini-T Therapeutics
Watertown, MA, US · founded 2020
Affini-T engineers a patient's T cells with receptors that recognise mutated cancer driver proteins such as KRAS, and uses gene editing to make the cells more effective. It is an early clinical-stage company based near Boston.
Kheiron Medical Technologies
London, GB · founded 2016
Kheiron built Mia, an artificial intelligence system that reads screening mammograms so that one radiologist plus the software can match the quality of two human readers. RadNet's DeepHealth unit bought the London company in 2024.
Universal DX
Madrid, ES · founded 2012
Universal DX is developing Signal-C, a blood test to screen for bowel cancer and pre-cancerous growths, and has partnered with Quest Diagnostics to offer it in the US once regulators approve it.
Alentis Therapeutics
Basel, CH
Alentis Therapeutics targets Claudin-1, a protein exposed on squamous cancers and scarred organs, with antibodies that either carry a cancer-killing drug or block disease signalling. Its first cancer medicine entered human trials in 2025.
Alpha-9 Oncology
Vancouver, CA
Alpha-9 Oncology designs bespoke molecules that deliver radioactive isotopes to cancer cells, with early human trials under way in melanoma and in breast and other solid tumours.
Boundless Bio
San Diego, CA, US
Boundless Bio tried to treat cancers driven by extra loops of DNA outside the chromosomes, called ecDNA. Its lead drug did not show enough benefit in early trials, and in 2026 the company agreed to merge with a gene-editing company and leave cancer.
C2i Genomics
New York, NY, US
C2i Genomics built a blood test that reads the whole genome of tumour DNA fragments to detect leftover cancer after treatment; Veracyte bought the company in 2024 and now sells the approach as TrueMRD.
Carevive Systems
North Miami, FL, US
Carevive built software that cancer clinics use to give each patient a personalised care plan and to collect symptom reports from home so nurses can act early. It is now part of Health Catalyst.
Enlaza Therapeutics
La Jolla, CA, US
Enlaza Therapeutics engineers protein drugs that lock permanently onto their target once they find it, which could let antibody-based cancer medicines work at lower doses with fewer side effects. Its programmes are still in laboratory development.
Harpoon Therapeutics
South San Francisco, CA, US
Harpoon built small T-cell engager proteins that link a patient's T cells to tumour cells, including HPN328, which targets DLL3 on small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumours. Merck bought the company in early 2024 for about $680 million.
Inhibrx Biosciences
La Jolla, CA, US
Inhibrx Biosciences is a San Diego antibody company testing two cancer drugs: ozekibart, which triggers a self-destruct receptor on tumour cells in bone cancers such as Ewing sarcoma, and an OX40 antibody that boosts immune cells. Sanofi bought its sister lung disease drug in 2024.
Onc.AI
San Francisco, CA, US
Onc.AI trains artificial intelligence on routine CT scans to predict early whether a lung cancer patient's immunotherapy is working, so doctors and drug developers can change course sooner.
Pheon Therapeutics
London, GB
Pheon Therapeutics, of London, designs antibody-drug conjugates against an undisclosed target overexpressed across a wide range of solid tumours; its lead carries eight topoisomerase 1 inhibitor molecules per antibody and showed a wide therapeutic index preclinically. It raised a 120 million dollar Series B in 2024 and has entered early human trials.
ProfoundBio
Seattle, WA, US
ProfoundBio developed antibodies that deliver a chemotherapy drug to ovarian cancer cells carrying a protein called folate receptor alpha. Genmab bought the company for 1.8 billion dollars in 2024.
SonALAsense
Oakland, CA, US
SonALAsense is testing sonodynamic therapy, in which patients receive a drug that cancer cells turn into a light-sensitive chemical and then focused ultrasound is beamed through the skull to activate it, killing brain tumour cells without surgery.
Valar Labs
Palo Alto, CA, US
Valar Labs uses artificial intelligence on routine bladder cancer biopsy slides to predict whether a patient's tumour will respond to BCG immunotherapy, helping doctors decide between BCG and other options such as surgery.
Volpara Health
Wellington, NZ
Volpara Health made software that measures breast density from mammograms and helps clinics manage breast cancer risk and screening quality. The New Zealand company was acquired by Korean AI firm Lunit in 2024 and now operates under the Lunit brand.
ZAP Surgical Systems
San Carlos, CA, US
ZAP Surgical makes ZAP-X, a self-shielded radiosurgery machine that aims beams from thousands of angles at brain tumours, treating brain metastases and meningiomas in one to five outpatient sessions without the concrete bunker or cobalt-60 source that older systems need. It is cleared in the US, Japan and Europe, with installations including Gustave Roussy.
Adela
Toronto, CA · founded 2021
Adela, of Toronto, develops blood tests that profile methylation marks across all cell-free DNA fragments without sequencing the tumour itself, first to detect residual disease and immunotherapy response in advanced solid tumours and later to screen for multiple cancers with one test. The screening programme is still in study.
Ibex Medical Analytics
Boston, MA, US · founded 2016
Ibex makes artificial intelligence that examines digitised biopsy slides to help pathologists detect and grade prostate, breast and stomach cancer, and to score biomarkers such as HER2. Its prostate tool is FDA cleared and its systems are used in hundreds of laboratories.
Tmunity Therapeutics
Philadelphia, PA, US · founded 2015
Tmunity was a Philadelphia company spun out of University of Pennsylvania research that built CAR T-cell therapies with extra features to help them fight solid tumours. Gilead's cell therapy unit Kite bought it in early 2023.
Carrum Health
San Francisco, CA, US · founded 2014
Carrum Health lets employers send workers with cancer to top cancer centres for a single upfront price, with travel and care coordination included and usually no bills for the patient.
Abdera Therapeutics
Vancouver, CA
Abdera Therapeutics engineered antibodies that carry a radioactive isotope to cancer cells, tuning how long they circulate so more radiation reaches the tumour and less reaches healthy tissue. Its first medicine targets a protein on small cell lung cancer.
Emergence Therapeutics
Duisburg, DE
Emergence Therapeutics was a German start-up making an antibody that carries a cancer-killing drug to a protein called Nectin-4, which is found on most bladder cancers. Eli Lilly bought the company in 2023.
Enliven Therapeutics
Boulder, CO, US
Enliven Therapeutics designs cleaner versions of cancer pills that already work. Its lead drug targets the BCR-ABL protein in chronic myeloid leukaemia and a second drug targets mutated HER2 in lung cancer.
Geneos Therapeutics
Philadelphia, PA, US
Geneos builds a personalised DNA vaccine for each patient from the mutations in their own tumour, injected into the skin with a small electrical pulse so the immune system learns to attack the cancer.
Haystack Oncology
Baltimore, MD, US
Haystack Oncology, now owned by Quest Diagnostics, makes a blood test that looks for tiny traces of tumour DNA after cancer surgery to tell whether any cancer is left behind or coming back.
K36 Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
K36 Therapeutics makes pills that block an enzyme called NSD2 (also known as MMSET), which is overactive in about one in five multiple myeloma cases because of a chromosome swap. It is also testing the approach in prostate cancer.
Mablink Bioscience
Lyon, FR
Mablink Bioscience, from Lyon, invented PSARlink, a water-soluble polysarcosine linker that hides the greasy cell-killing payload so an antibody can carry a higher load of drug molecules and still stay stable in the blood. Eli Lilly bought the company in 2023, before any of its medicines had reached patients.
Neogene Therapeutics
Amsterdam, NL
Neogene developed T-cell receptor therapies that can recognise cancer-specific mutations hidden inside tumour cells, an approach aimed at solid tumours. AstraZeneca bought the company in January 2023 for up to $320 million.
Nimbus Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Nimbus Therapeutics is a Boston company that uses computer-aided chemistry to design pills against hard drug targets. Its cancer drug blocks an enzyme called WRN that some bowel and womb cancers with faulty DNA repair depend on.
POINT Biopharma
Indianapolis, IN, US
POINT Biopharma developed radioactive medicines that home in on prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumours, and built a large manufacturing campus in Indianapolis. Eli Lilly bought the company at the end of 2023.
Therapixel
Nice, FR · founded 2013
Therapixel's MammoScreen software uses artificial intelligence to point out suspicious areas on mammograms and score how likely they are to be cancer, helping radiologists in the US and Europe read screening exams.
Acrivon Therapeutics
Watertown, MA, US
Acrivon Therapeutics uses a protein-activity test to pick the patients most likely to respond to its cancer drugs. Its lead drug blocks DNA damage checkpoint proteins and is being tested in womb and ovarian cancer.
Dantari
Thousand Oaks, CA, US
Dantari built polymer-based drug carriers that let an antibody deliver far more chemotherapy to a tumour than standard antibody-drug conjugates, while sparing the bone marrow. Its first medicine was tested in breast cancer before the company sold off its assets in 2025.
Elypta
Stockholm, SE
Elypta, of Stockholm, measures glycosaminoglycans, sugar molecules in blood and urine, and scores them with machine learning to detect kidney cancer returning after surgery; a second programme tests whether the same signature can flag any cancer early in symptom-free adults. Only interim data support the screening use.
Microbiotica
Cambridge, GB
Microbiotica makes precisely defined mixtures of gut bacteria as medicines. Its lead product is given alongside immunotherapy to help more melanoma patients respond.
Nested Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Nested Therapeutics hunts for hidden cancer-driving mutations and designs drugs to fit them. Its first drug, NST-628, sticks two signalling proteins (RAF and MEK) together to switch off a common cancer growth pathway.
Photys Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Photys Therapeutics builds two-headed molecules that bring a target protein next to an enzyme that modifies or destroys it. Its first clinical drug is for autoimmune disease; its cancer work, aimed at a mutant form of the p53 protein, is still in the laboratory.
Kumquat Biosciences
San Diego, CA, US · founded 2018
Kumquat Biosciences is a San Diego company founded by KRAS pioneers that makes pills against the KRAS cancer protein and immune-boosting small molecules. Its KRAS G12D drug entered human trials with Bayer in 2025.
Mythic Therapeutics
Waltham, MA, US · founded 2017
Mythic Therapeutics designed antibody-drug conjugates, antibodies that carry a cell-killing drug into tumours, with an engineering trick to get more drug inside cancer cells. Its lead lung cancer medicine reached mid-stage trials before the company wound down in late 2025.
Color Health
South San Francisco, CA, US · founded 2015
Color Health runs a cancer programme for employers and health plans that gets people screened, follows up abnormal results, and gives those diagnosed access to an online clinic staffed by oncologists.
Amunix Pharmaceuticals
South San Francisco, CA, US
Amunix developed T-cell engager and cytokine cancer drugs with a protective mask that is clipped off by enzymes found in tumours, so the drugs become active mainly at the cancer. Sanofi agreed to buy the company in December 2021 for about $1 billion upfront.
Captor Therapeutics
Wroclaw, PL
Captor Therapeutics, a Polish company listed in Warsaw, designs small molecules that make cells destroy disease-causing proteins. Its lead cancer programme degrades three proteins at once and is aimed at liver and lung cancer.
Erasca
San Diego, CA, US
Erasca develops pills that shut down the RAS signalling pathway, one of the most common drivers of cancer. Its two lead drugs aim to block all forms of RAS or KRAS rather than a single mutation.
Exai Bio
Palo Alto, CA, US
Exai Bio is building blood tests that look for small pieces of RNA made only by tumours, rather than tumour DNA, and uses artificial intelligence to find cancer early from a routine blood draw.
Iksuda Therapeutics
Newcastle upon Tyne, GB
Iksuda Therapeutics, based in Newcastle, designs antibody-drug conjugates, antibodies that release a cancer-killing drug only once inside the tumour. Its HER2-targeting medicine is in early human trials, with encouraging results in oesophageal cancer.
Inivata
Cambridge, GB
Inivata was a Cambridge, UK liquid biopsy company whose blood tests find traces of tumour DNA; it was bought by the US laboratory group NeoGenomics in 2021 and its RaDaR test is now sold by NeoGenomics.
Janux Therapeutics
San Diego, CA, US
Janux makes 'masked' T-cell engager antibodies that stay inactive in the bloodstream and switch on only inside tumours, aiming to cut the side effects that limit this drug class. Its lead programmes target PSMA in advanced prostate cancer.
Nucleix
Rehovot, IL
Nucleix makes urine and blood tests that read chemical marks on DNA to spot bladder cancer coming back and, in development, to find lung cancer early.
Stablix
New York, NY, US
Stablix does the opposite of protein degradation: its molecules recruit enzymes that strip the 'destroy me' tag off useful proteins so cells keep them. Cancer is one of its target areas, but all its work is still preclinical.
Tango Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Tango Therapeutics makes cancer pills that exploit a weakness created when a tumour loses a particular gene. Its lead drug targets cancers that have lost a gene called MTAP, common in pancreatic and lung cancer.
Tyra Biosciences
Carlsbad, CA, US
Tyra Biosciences designs precise pills against a family of growth-signal proteins called FGFRs, which are faulty in some bladder, liver and bile duct cancers and in a bone growth disorder.
Tallac Therapeutics
Burlingame, CA, US · founded 2018
Tallac Therapeutics builds antibodies that carry an immune-activating molecule into tumours, so the body's own defences attack the cancer. Its lead medicine is in early human trials and has a fast-track review status in bile duct cancer.
NBE-Therapeutics
Basel, CH · founded 2012
NBE-Therapeutics, founded in Basel in 2012 and owned by Boehringer Ingelheim since 2020, builds antibody-drug conjugates that pair its own conjugation chemistry with a PNU-derived anthracycline payload, designed to kill tumour cells directly and to trigger a lasting immune response against the tumour. Its candidates are still moving towards the clinic.
Biodesix
Louisville, CO, US
Biodesix sells blood tests that help doctors judge whether a lung nodule seen on a scan is likely to be cancer, and tests that guide treatment once lung cancer is diagnosed.
Black Diamond Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Black Diamond Therapeutics designs cancer pills that hit whole families of mutations in a growth protein at once. Its lead drug, silevertinib, targets mutated EGFR in lung cancer and brain tumours.
Foghorn Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Foghorn Therapeutics makes drugs that act on the machinery that packages DNA and controls which genes are switched on. Its lead drug, partnered with Lilly, targets lung cancers that have lost a gene called SMARCA4.
OncoHealth
Atlanta, GA, US
OncoHealth works for health insurers to check that proposed cancer treatments follow the evidence, and runs Iris, a service giving patients round the clock access to cancer nurses, therapists and dietitians by phone or app.
Orca Bio
Menlo Park, CA, US
Orca Bio makes precision-engineered versions of donor stem cell transplants for blood cancers, sorting the donor cells so that patients get the cells that fight cancer and rebuild the immune system with fewer of the cells that cause graft versus host disease. Its first product, TREGZI, was approved in the US in June 2026.
ORIC Pharmaceuticals
South San Francisco, CA, US
ORIC Pharmaceuticals develops pills designed to beat the ways cancers resist treatment. One blocks a gene-silencing complex in prostate cancer; the other targets mutated EGFR and HER2 in lung cancer and can reach the brain.
Prelude Therapeutics
Wilmington, DE, US
Prelude Therapeutics develops precision cancer medicines. Its current focus is a pill for blood cancers driven by a JAK2 mutation and drugs that destroy a protein called KAT6A in hormone-driven breast cancer.
Relay Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Relay Therapeutics uses computer simulations of how proteins move to design precise cancer pills. Its lead drug, zovegalisib, targets a mutated growth protein called PI3K-alpha in breast cancer while sparing the normal version.
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals
San Diego, CA, US
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals is developing azenosertib, a pill that blocks a cell-cycle checkpoint protein called WEE1, for ovarian cancer that no longer responds to platinum chemotherapy.
Careology
London, GB · founded 2019
Careology is an app that helps people going through cancer treatment log symptoms, medicines and appointments, and a dashboard that lets their hospital team see problems early.
IDEAYA Biosciences
South San Francisco, CA, US
IDEAYA Biosciences develops cancer drugs matched to the genetic make-up of a patient's tumour. Its most advanced drug, darovasertib, is in late-stage trials for a rare eye cancer called uveal melanoma.
TAE Life Sciences
Irvine, CA, US · founded 2018
TAE Life Sciences is developing boron neutron capture therapy, in which a boron drug collects in cancer cells and a hospital-based neutron beam then triggers a tiny nuclear reaction inside those cells to destroy them while sparing nearby healthy tissue.
Radformation
New York, NY, US · founded 2016
Radformation makes software that automates the repetitive parts of planning radiotherapy, such as outlining organs on scans, checking plans for errors and verifying doses, so cancer patients can start treatment faster and more safely.
FinalDose
San Francisco, CA, US · founded 2026
Y Combinator Spring 2026 start-up building a programmable DNA-targeting drug: a molecule that recognises a cancer-specific DNA sequence inside a cell and triggers a kill switch only there.
D3 Bio (Wuxi)
Wuxi, CN · founded 2020
D3 Bio (Wuxi) is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials.
OncoC4
Rockville, MD, US · founded 2020
OncoC4 is a United States-based biotechnology company running 5 late-stage cancer trials of ONC-392, AI-081 and ONC-392 low in non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Aqemia
Paris, FR · founded 2019
Aqemia combines physics-based calculations with generative artificial intelligence to invent new drug molecules, working both on its own projects and with large drug companies such as Sanofi.
LaNova Medicines
Shanghai, CN · founded 2019
LaNova Medicines is a China-based biotechnology company running 10 late-stage cancer trials of LM-168, LM-108 and LM-299 in gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shanghai Juncell Therapeutics
Shanghai, CN · founded 2019
Shanghai Juncell Therapeutics is a China-based cell therapy company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of GC101 TIL in melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer.
Suzhou Forlong Biotechnology
Suzhou, CN · founded 2019
Suzhou Forlong Biotechnology is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of FL115 in bladder & urothelial cancer.
Canopy
New York, NY, US · founded 2018
Canopy is software for cancer clinics that lets patients report symptoms from home between visits, sorts the reports by urgency for nurses, and automates the paperwork that lets clinics bill for that monitoring.
Immunai
New York, NY, US · founded 2018
Immunai maps the human immune system cell by cell and uses machine learning on that map to help drug companies pick targets and design trials, including for cancer immunotherapy.
Vara
Berlin, DE · founded 2018
Vara makes artificial intelligence software that reads screening mammograms in Germany's national breast screening programme, flagging normal scans and highlighting suspicious ones so radiologists find more cancers with less work.
Wigen Biomedicine Technology (Shanghai)
Shanghai, CN · founded 2018
Wigen Biomedicine Technology (Shanghai) is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of WJB001.
iOnctura
Geneva, CH · founded 2017
iOnctura is a Switzerland-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of roginolisib in non-small-cell lung cancer, uveal melanoma and melanoma.
QBiotics
Toowong, Brisbane, AU · founded 2017
QBiotics is a Australia-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in sarcomas and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
CytoReason
Tel Aviv, IL · founded 2016
CytoReason builds computer models of human diseases from molecular and clinical data so drug companies can predict which targets and drugs are most likely to work, including in cancer immunotherapy.
Iktos
Paris, FR · founded 2016
Iktos sells artificial intelligence software that designs new drug molecules and plans how to make them, and runs robotic labs that build and test the molecules automatically.
Osara Health
New York, NY, US · founded 2016
Osara Health pairs people with cancer with a personal health coach by phone, text and app to help with fatigue, sleep, exercise and returning to work. Insurers and employers pay for it.
Turbine
Budapest, HU · founded 2016
Turbine builds computer simulations of cancer cells so drug developers can run millions of virtual experiments before doing them in the lab, for example to pick targets for antibody-drug conjugates.
Forward Pharmaceuticals
Shenzhen, CN · founded 2015
Forward Pharmaceuticals is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of FWD1802 in HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
Hangzhou Sumgen Biotech
Hangzhou, CN · founded 2015
Hangzhou Sumgen Biotech is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of SG2918 and SG301 in multiple myeloma.
Neutron Therapeutics
Danvers, MA, US · founded 2015
Neutron Therapeutics makes a compact particle accelerator that produces the neutron beam needed for boron neutron capture therapy, a form of radiotherapy that targets cancer cells one at a time, so hospitals no longer need a nuclear reactor to offer it.
ONK Therapeutics
Galway, IE · founded 2015
ONK Therapeutics, based in Galway, Ireland, is developing off-the-shelf natural killer cell therapies that are gene-edited and given two ways to kill cancer cells at once. It is a private, preclinical-stage company spun out of University of Galway research.
ScreenPoint Medical
Nijmegen, NL · founded 2014
Radboud University spin-out whose Transpara software is the AI reader tested in the MASAI screening trial.
GeneQuantum Healthcare (Suzhou)
Suzhou, CN · founded 2013
GeneQuantum Healthcare (Suzhou) is a China-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of GQ1005 and phase II in HER2-positive breast cancer.
XACT Robotics
Caesarea, IL · founded 2013
XACT Robotics makes a small robot that attaches to the patient and, using CT scan guidance, inserts and steers a needle to a precise spot inside the body for tumour biopsies and heat-based tumour destruction, adjusting its path as the target moves.
AskGene Pharma
Camarillo, US · founded 2012
AskGene Pharma is a United States-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of ASKG915 and Fruquintinib in gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Avistone Biotechnology
Beijing, CN · founded 2012
Avistone Biotechnology is a China-based biotechnology company running 5 late-stage cancer trials of PLB1004, Vebreltinib and ANS02 in non-small-cell lung cancer.
Haihe Biopharma
Shanghai, CN · founded 2011
Haihe Biopharma is a China-based biotechnology company running 4 late-stage cancer trials of HH2853, Glumetinib and CYH33 in non-small-cell lung cancer, follicular lymphoma and sarcomas.
Nonagen Bioscience
Irvine, CA, US · founded 2011
Nonagen Bioscience makes Oncuria, a urine test that measures a panel of proteins to detect bladder cancer, watch for it returning, and predict whether BCG immunotherapy will work.
On Target Laboratories
West Lafayette, IN, US · founded 2010
Purdue spin-out that developed Cytalux, the glowing dye that shows ovarian and lung cancer deposits during surgery.
Lumicell
Newton, MA, US · founded 2008
MIT spin-out whose Lumisight dye and imaging system show leftover breast cancer in the lumpectomy cavity before the operation ends.
P-Cure
Jerusalem, IL · founded 2007
P-Cure makes a compact proton therapy system in which the patient sits upright in a rotating chair in front of a fixed beam, so the treatment fits inside an ordinary radiotherapy room instead of a purpose-built multi-storey building.
Adialante
San Francisco, CA, US
Adialante has redesigned MRI so it fits in a mobile clinic and is paid per scan, aiming to bring MRI cancer screening to any medical site, starting with prostate cancer.
Adventris Pharmaceuticals
Baltimore, MD, US
Adventris Pharmaceuticals, a Johns Hopkins spin-out, develops off-the-shelf cancer vaccines designed to raise immune responses against mutant KRAS, the driver mutation shared by pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers, with the long-term aim of a yearly vaccine that prevents those cancers before they form. Its programmes are preclinical or early clinical.
Algen Biotechnologies
South San Francisco, CA, US
Algen uses CRISPR screens read out at the single-cell level, plus machine learning, to find which RNA messages drive cancer and inflammation, and then designs drugs against them.
Alixia
San Francisco, CA, US
Alixia is developing drugs that act on the supporting cells and inflammation around a tumour as well as the cancer cells, to stop cancers from becoming resistant.
Altay Therapeutics
South San Francisco, CA, US
Altay Therapeutics is developing small-molecule drugs for chronic liver disease, including the scarring that leads to liver cancer and liver cancer itself.
Aluna
San Francisco, CA, US
Aluna works with hospitals to build carefully curated cancer datasets and evaluation sets so that medical AI models can be trained and tested properly.
Amphista Therapeutics
Cambridge, GB
Amphista Therapeutics, based near Cambridge in the UK, designs small molecules that make cancer cells destroy specific proteins using a less common disposal enzyme called DCAF16. Its first drug, for acute myeloid leukaemia, was cleared to start human trials in 2026.
Ananya Health
San Francisco, CA, US
Ananya Health makes a portable freezing device that lets a nurse in any clinic treat abnormal cervical cells before they turn into cancer, at a tenth of the usual cost.
Antidote
London, United Kingdom, GB
Antidote matches volunteers to clinical trials through a search that turns registry listings into plain questions, serving patients in the United Kingdom and United States.
AOA Dx
Denver, CO, US
AOA Dx is developing a blood test to detect ovarian cancer early, based on fat-sugar molecules called glycolipids that tumours shed.
Arden Bio
California (city not published), US
Arden Bio is an Even One Ventures company outside cancer: it profiles the immune system of people with complex immune-mediated conditions to match them to biology-based treatments.
Ariceum Therapeutics
Berlin, DE
Ariceum Therapeutics is a Berlin company developing a treatment that carries the alpha-emitting isotope actinium-225 to small cell lung cancer and Merkel cell skin cancer. Its first human trial began in late 2025.
Arpeggio Bio
Boulder, CO, US
Arpeggio Bio uses AI on large RNA-sequencing datasets to find drugs against transcription factors, the hard-to-hit proteins that switch cancer genes on, with a first programme in immunotherapy-resistant melanoma.
Arsenal Biosciences
South San Francisco, CA, US
Programmable CAR-T company using logic gates so cells fire only when two tumour proteins are present; AB-2100 (PSMA + CA9) is in phase 1/2 for kidney cancer.
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Asher Biotherapeutics
South San Francisco, CA, US
Asher Bio engineers immune-stimulating molecules that switch on only one type of immune cell, such as killer T cells, so the drug is more potent against tumours and causes fewer side effects.
Atomic Alchemy
Idaho Falls, ID, US
Atomic Alchemy set out to build small reactors dedicated to making the radioactive isotopes used in cancer scans and treatments, so hospitals no longer depend on a handful of ageing government reactors. It was bought by the nuclear company Oklo.
Aveta Biomics
Bedford, US
Aveta Biomics is a United States-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of APG-157 in glioma & glioblastoma and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
BeBetter Med
Guangzhou, CN
BeBetter Med is a Guangzhou biotechnology company developing BEBT-908, a dual PI3K and HDAC inhibitor for relapsed lymphoma, and other small-molecule cancer drugs, with three late-stage trials in the registry.
Belong.Life
New York, NY, US
Belong.Life runs a large free social app where people with cancer share experiences and ask questions, plus Dave, an artificial intelligence mentor that answers cancer questions around the clock.
Bicycle Therapeutics
Cambridge, GB
Inventor of bicyclic peptide drug conjugates; its lead Nectin-4 conjugate was deprioritised in 2026 after regulatory feedback.
BigHat Biosciences
San Mateo, CA, US
BigHat uses machine learning and a fast automated lab to design antibodies. Its first cancer drug, an antibody carrying a chemotherapy payload to stomach and bowel tumours, entered human trials in 2026.
Bikanta
Berkeley, CA, US
Bikanta tried to use tiny fluorescent diamonds as imaging probes to spot cancer earlier. It went through Y Combinator in 2014 and is no longer operating.
BillionToOne
Menlo Park, CA, US
BillionToOne counts DNA molecules in blood far more precisely than standard sequencing. Known first for prenatal testing, it now sells liquid biopsy tests that read a tumour's mutations and track treatment from a blood draw.
Blank Bio
San Francisco, CA, US
Blank Bio trains AI models on tumour RNA to predict how a disease will progress and which patients will respond, so drug companies can run smarter cancer trials.
Cambridge Cancer Genomics (CCG.ai)
Cambridge, GB
CCG.ai built software to combine genomic and clinical data so oncologists could choose and adjust treatment sooner. The company is no longer active.
CARTx Therapeutics
United States (city not published), US
CARTx Therapeutics, spun out of Nationwide Children's Hospital, is developing affordable off-the-shelf CAR gamma-delta T cell therapies from healthy donors for solid tumours and blood cancers.
CatalYm
Planegg-Martinsried, DE
CatalYm is a Germany-based biotechnology company running 5 late-stage cancer trials of Visugromab (CTL-002), Visugromab and visugromab (CTL-002) in non-small-cell lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.
CEBIOTEX
Barcelona, ES
CEBIOTEX is a Spain-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of CEB-01 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Century Therapeutics
Philadelphia, PA, US
Century makes off-the-shelf cell therapies from induced pluripotent stem cells that are engineered to hide from the patient's immune system. Its main focus is now type 1 diabetes, with a CD19 CAR T-like product for cancer and autoimmune disease due to enter the clinic in 2026.
Certis Oncology Solutions
San Diego, CA, US
Certis grows pieces of a patient's tumour in mice and in the lab to test which drugs work, serving both drug developers and oncologists looking for treatment options for an individual patient.
Chongqing Precision Biotech
Chongqing, CN
Chongqing Precision Biotech is a China-based cell therapy company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in multiple myeloma.
CivaTech Oncology
Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, US
CivaTech Oncology is a United States-based medical device company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and non-small-cell lung cancer.
Clear Gene
San Carlos, CA, US
Clear Gene is developing tests that tell a surgeon, quickly, whether all of the cancer was removed during an operation.
Cofactor Genomics
St. Louis, MO, US
Cofactor Genomics reads the RNA of a tumour sample to model the immune cells inside it, and uses that to predict who will respond to immunotherapy.
Convergent Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Convergent Therapeutics attaches an alpha-emitting isotope to an antibody that homes in on prostate cancer cells, for men whose disease has progressed after standard radioligand treatment. Its lead medicine has reported mid-stage trial results.
Data Driven Bioscience (Duoseq)
Durham, NC, US
Data Driven Bioscience is building a faster, cheaper sequencing-based way to diagnose and subtype cancers, starting with lymphoma.
Delee
Monterrey, MX
Delee, from Mexico, built a blood-testing device that catches circulating tumour cells to help diagnose cancer earlier and follow treatment.
DELFI Diagnostics
Baltimore, MD, US
Fragmentomics company whose FirstLook Lung blood test aims to raise lung-cancer screening uptake; first randomised clinical-utility data in 2026.
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Diakonos Oncology
United States (city not published), US
Diakonos Oncology makes dendritic cell therapies from a patient's own cells, with trials under way in glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer and melanoma.
Digistain
London, GB
Digistain shines infrared light through a breast tumour slide and reads its chemical fingerprint to score how likely the cancer is to return, giving a result in a day rather than weeks and at a fraction of the cost of genomic tests.
Echo Immune
United States (head office not published), US
Echo Immune is developing personalised mRNA cancer vaccines designed from a patient's own tumour to stop cancer coming back after treatment.
Ellipses Pharma
London, GB
Ellipses Pharma is a United Kingdom-based biotechnology company running 3 late-stage cancer trials of EP0031, EP0042 and Azacitidine (AZA) in non-small-cell lung cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms.
Eris Biotech
Lehi, UT, US
Eris Biotech is making small-molecule pills that release the brakes on the immune system inside tumours, starting with mesothelioma.
FidoCure
Palo Alto, CA, US
FidoCure sequences the tumours of dogs with cancer and matches them to targeted drugs, bringing precision medicine to veterinary oncology and building a dataset that also informs human cancer research.
Future of Cancer Care Today (FCCT)
San Francisco, CA, US
Future of Cancer Care Today is a free, PhD-led service that helps cancer patients and families connect the dots when standard of care runs out: it surfaces diagnostic and treatment options for their case, finds vetted suppliers who work beyond standard protocols, and writes playbooks so families walk into the next appointment with a fuller picture.
Galen
United States (city not published), US
Galen is an AI personal assistant for cancer patients that helps find trials, interpret lab results, manage appointments and deal with insurance.
Gamgee
San Francisco, CA, US
Gamgee sequences a dog's tumour and designs a personalised mRNA vaccine that teaches its immune system what to attack, and is running trials in Australia with the aim of improving the approach with every case.
Gamida Cell
Boston, MA, US
Gamida Cell developed omidubicel, the nicotinamide-expanded cord blood therapy approved by the FDA in 2023 to speed neutrophil recovery after transplant in patients with blood cancers.
Gemini Therapeutics
United States (head office not published), US
Gemini Therapeutics is a startup with a single purpose: finishing the development of aldoxorubicin, a tumour-targeted form of doxorubicin, founded after the GitLab co-founder Sid Sijbrandij was treated with doxorubicin for osteosarcoma.
Generate:Biomedicines
Somerville, MA, US
Generative-AI protein design company (Flagship) that went public in 2026 and is testing an antibody that neutralises leaked ADC payload to reduce side effects.
GRAIL
Menlo Park, CA, US
GRAIL developed Galleri, the multi-cancer blood test awaiting an FDA decision after a September 2026 advisory committee.
Granza Bio
San Francisco, CA, US
Granza Bio is turning the natural attack particles that killer immune cells fire at their targets into programmable medicines that can re-arm exhausted immune cells against cancer.
Guardian Bio
Boston, MA, US
Guardian Bio turns a patient's stem cells into dendritic cells, the immune system's teachers, trains them against that patient's tumour and gives them back to restart the immune attack.
Harbinger Health
Cambridge, MA, US
Flagship-founded blood-test company launching RESOLVE, a multi-cancer detection test for people with symptoms who are waiting for a diagnosis.
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Harmonic Discovery
New York, NY, US
Harmonic Discovery designs single drugs that hit several disease-driving proteins at once, arguing that cancer is rarely caused by one broken protein.
Helio Genomics
Irvine, CA, US
Helio Genomics sells HelioLiver, a blood test that combines DNA chemistry, protein markers and patient details to find liver cancer earlier than the ultrasound scans usually used for surveillance.
HistoWiz
Brooklyn, NY, US
HistoWiz is a mail-in pathology laboratory for cancer researchers: send tissue, get scanned digital slides and expert readings online within days.
Humane Genomics
New York, NY, US
Humane Genomics builds artificial cancer-killing viruses that only infect and only multiply inside tumour cells, starting with a rare liver cancer in children.
Ignitus Bio
United States (head office not published), US
Ignitus Bio is an Even One Ventures company outside cancer: it aims to measure a patient's mitochondrial function and use healthy mitochondria to restore energy in failing heart and brain tissue.
InnoPharmax
Taipei, TW
InnoPharmax is a Taiwanese pharmaceutical company running phase 3 trials of D07001, its oral formulation of the chemotherapy irinotecan, in biliary tract cancer.
Intra-IMMUSG
Singapore, SG
Intra-IMMUSG is a Singapore-based biotechnology company running 3 late-stage cancer trials.
Invocata
United States (head office not published), US
Invocata is building personalised T-cell receptor therapies, choosing the right TCR for the individual patient at the right time; its site says only that it is coming soon.
Invoke Bio
United States (city not published), US
Invoke Bio designs personalised neoantigen vaccines in whatever form suits the patient, peptide, DNA or mRNA, using a prediction engine it says picks tumour targets with three times the accuracy of industry baselines.
InxMed
Shanghai, CN
InxMed is a Shanghai biotechnology company developing IN10018 (ifebemtinib), a focal adhesion kinase inhibitor, which is in a phase 3 trial with the KRAS G12C inhibitor garsorasib against standard therapy in KRAS G12C-mutant lung cancer.
Isabl
New York, NY, US
Isabl reads a tumour's whole genome and transcriptome instead of a small gene panel, and its software turns that into a report clinicians can use.
iSono Health
San Francisco, CA, US
iSono Health makes a wearable ultrasound scanner that images the whole breast automatically in about two minutes, with software to flag suspicious masses, for use outside specialist imaging centres.
Jasper Health
Boise, ID, US
Jasper Health is an app and coaching service that helps people with cancer and their carers keep track of treatment, symptoms and appointments, with counsellors available for emotional support.
Juventas Cell Therapy
Tianjin, China, CN
Juventas Cell Therapy in Tianjin developed inaticabtagene autoleucel, the first CAR-T approved in China for leukaemia (2023).
Kartos Therapeutics
Redwood City, US
Kartos Therapeutics is a United States-based biotechnology company running 3 late-stage cancer trials of KRT-232 and Ruxolitinib in myeloproliferative neoplasms, endometrial cancer and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Kernal Biologics
Cambridge, MA, US
Kernal Bio designs mRNA medicines that switch on only in the intended cell type, for example programming a patient's T cells against cancer inside the body without taking them out first.
Kernis Health
California (city not published), US
Kernis Health helps cancer patients keep their own living tumour tissue after surgery, instead of letting it be discarded, so it can be used later for functional drug testing, diagnostics and trial access.
Klineo
France (city not published), FR
Klineo is a French search tool that helps patients and physicians find oncology clinical trials across Europe quickly.
Known Medicine
Salt Lake City, UT, US
Known Medicine breaks a patient's tumour into thousands of tiny three-dimensional tumours, treats each with a different drug, and uses AI to predict which drugs will work. It has been acquired.
Kopra Bio
San Francisco, CA, US
Kopra Bio engineers viruses that teach the immune system to kill cancer, starting with glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain cancer.
Laminar Pharmaceuticals
Palma de Mallorca, ES
Laminar Pharmaceuticals is a Spain-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of LAM561 in glioma & glioblastoma.
LEAH Labs
Minneapolis, MN, US
LEAH Labs makes CAR-T cell therapy for dogs with lymphoma, using virus-free gene editing to bring the cost of a dose down to hundreds of dollars.
Leo Cancer Care
Middleton, WI, US
Leo Cancer Care builds radiotherapy equipment that treats patients sitting upright instead of lying down, so the beam can stay fixed and the room, machine and building can be far smaller and cheaper.
Lila Sciences
Cambridge, MA, US
Lila Sciences is Flagship Pioneering's 'scientific superintelligence' company, combining AI with autonomous labs, with life science as a first domain.
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Liyfe
New York, NY, US
Liyfe built a digital nurse that checks in with cancer patients between visits, scores their symptoms and flags who needs a call, to cut emergency visits.
Lucence
Singapore, SG
Lucence offers blood tests that read both tumour DNA and tumour RNA from a single sample to help doctors choose targeted treatments, and is developing a multi-cancer screening test.
Luminate Medical
Galway, IE
Luminate makes a wearable device that presses gently on the scalp during chemotherapy to stop the drug reaching the hair follicles, so patients keep their hair.
Maia Biotechnology
Chicago, US
Maia Biotechnology is a United States-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in non-small-cell lung cancer.
Marengo Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA, US
Marengo Therapeutics, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, makes antibodies that bind part of the T-cell receptor to activate selected subsets of a patient's T cells. Its lead, invikafusp alfa, is in trials in tumours with a high mutational burden that have stopped responding to checkpoint drugs, and with an antibody-drug conjugate in breast cancer.
Massive Bio
New York, NY, US
Massive Bio uses artificial intelligence to read a cancer patient's medical records and match them to clinical trials they may be eligible for, anywhere in the world, with doctors checking the results.
MBrace Therapeutics
San Diego, CA, US
MBrace Therapeutics is a United States-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in prostate cancer, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and colorectal cancer.
Mednet (theMednet)
New York, NY, US
theMednet is an online question-and-answer network where oncologists ask hard clinical questions and get answers from named experts, with AI now helping to search the archive.
Minuteman Therapeutics
United States (head office not published), US
Minuteman Therapeutics develops oncolytic viruses engineered against an individual patient's tumour, matching the virus to the biology of that person's cancer.
Mission Bio
South San Francisco, CA, US
Mission Bio sells an instrument that reads DNA mutations and proteins from thousands of individual cancer cells at once, helping researchers see how leukaemia and myeloma evolve and resist treatment.
Moderna
Cambridge, MA, US
Moderna is the mRNA company whose personalised cancer vaccine intismeran won the first phase 3 in the class (August 2026).
Modulari-T
Montreal, CA
Modulari-T designs synthetic genes that let engineered immune cells sense their surroundings and change behaviour, so cell therapies can find and kill cancer more reliably.
Monte Rosa Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Molecular-glue degrader company with a GSPT1 degrader in phase 2 for AR-mutant prostate cancer and a CCNE1-directed glue in preclinical development.
Multitude Therapeutics
Shanghai, CN
Multitude Therapeutics is a China-based biotechnology company running 4 late-stage cancer trials of AMT-116, AMT-676 and AMT-253 in colorectal cancer, melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer.
myTomorrows
Amsterdam, Netherlands, NL
myTomorrows helps patients and physicians find clinical trials and, when none fits, coordinates expanded access to drugs still in development, with patient navigators active in nearly fifty countries.
NearWave
South Bend, IN, US
NearWave makes a handheld near-infrared scanner that shows within days whether a breast cancer is responding to chemotherapy before surgery, so patients are not left on a treatment that is failing.
Notable Labs
Foster City, CA, US
Notable Labs ran an automated laboratory in Foster City that exposed a patient's own leukaemia or lymphoma cells to combinations of approved drugs and measured which killed them, to predict which treatment would work. It listed on Nasdaq in 2023, but its website was offline in September 2026, so it is recorded as wound down.
Nouscom
Basel / Rome, CH
Nouscom is developing Nous-209, an off-the-shelf viral-vector vaccine encoding 209 shared frameshift neoantigens to intercept cancer in Lynch syndrome carriers.
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Nucleai
Tel Aviv, IL
Nucleai uses artificial intelligence to map where different cells sit within tumour tissue samples, helping drug companies understand who responds to a treatment and why.
Nucleo
United States, US
Nucleo builds AI agents that help oncologists and radiologists pull measurements and insights out of CT scans to characterise tumours and guide treatment.
Numen
San Francisco, CA, US
Numen is working on earlier cancer detection, with the stated goal of a future without cancer deaths.
Omanta
San Francisco, CA, US
Omanta runs a personal research programme for one patient at a time, for people with cancer who have exhausted standard options, coordinating tissue, testing, multi-omic analysis and a treatment strategy with their doctors.
Oncobox
Walnut, CA, US
Oncobox profiles a tumour's genes and the activity of its signalling pathways, then ranks approved targeted drugs by how likely they are to work for that patient.
OncoVerity
Denver, CO, US
OncoVerity is a United States-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of Cusatuzumab in acute myeloid leukaemia.
OpenCancerAI
United States (city not published), US
OpenCancerAI builds open cancer infrastructure and AI tools for patients and caregivers to reduce the information gap between them and their care teams.
Orca Biosystems
Menlo Park, CA, US
Orca Biosystems is a United States-based cell therapy company running 2 late-stage cancer trials in myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms and acute myeloid leukaemia.
Origin Bio
San Francisco, CA, US
Origin is building the largest dataset of how individual cancer cells from real patients respond to drugs and genetic medicines, to license to pharma and AI companies.
Palitra Bio
United States (head office not published), US
Palitra Bio tests candidate treatments directly against a patient's own tumour cells, with a PhD data team and an MD tumour board turning the results into a personalised treatment plan.
Perci Health
London, GB
Perci Health is an online clinic where people affected by cancer can book video appointments with specialist cancer nurses, physiotherapists, dietitians, psychologists and other experts, usually paid for by their employer or insurer.
Perita Bio
United States (head office not published), US
Perita Bio is an Even One Ventures company outside cancer: precision molecular profiling of endometriosis to explore non-hormonal treatment options.
Persephone Biosciences
San Diego, CA, US
Persephone studies the gut bacteria of cancer patients and designs live bacterial medicines meant to make immunotherapy work for more people.
Picnic Health
United States (city not published), US
Picnic Health gathers a patient's complete medical records into one place and uses them to match the patient to clinical trials and research.
Precirix
Brussels, BE
Precirix, of Brussels, develops radiopharmaceuticals built on small single-domain antibody fragments that carry a radioactive isotope to HER2-positive cancers. Its lead, CAM-H2, is in a phase 1/2 trial in HER2-positive breast, gastric and gastro-oesophageal cancer, including patients with brain metastases, with an imaging dose given first to confirm HER2 in the lesions.
Proxygen
Vienna, AT
Proxygen is a Vienna company that hunts for molecular glues, small molecules that make cells destroy cancer-driving proteins. Its two lead programmes, against p300 and CDK12, are still in the laboratory.
Ranata Therapeutics
United States (head office not published), US
Ranata Therapeutics builds antibodies and bispecific antibodies against the unique features of an individual patient's cancer cells.
Rarivive
United States (head office not published), US
Rarivive is an Even One Ventures company outside cancer: custom gene therapies designed around a single person's mutation for rare genetic diseases.
Relit Biosciences
United States (head office not published), US
Relit Biosciences gives patients access to biomarker-based imaging and radioligand therapy, the pairing of a diagnostic scan with a matched radioactive drug.
REPROSENT
Los Gatos, CA, US
REPROSENT is a patient app that helps people with cancer and their families track symptoms and treatment, and turns what they record into alerts for their care team.
ResistanceBio (Viosera Therapeutics)
San Francisco, CA, US
ResistanceBio set out to design drugs that stop cancers becoming resistant to treatment. The company is no longer active.
Reverie Labs
Cambridge, MA, US
Reverie Labs used machine learning to design cancer drugs that could cross into the brain. It is no longer operating.
Serinus Biosciences
New York, NY, US
Serinus uses an explainable AI model of cancer cell biology to work out how tumours evade a drug, and to design combinations that block the escape routes.
Shanghai Yingli Pharmaceutical
Shanghai, China, CN
Shanghai Yingli Pharmaceutical developed linperlisib, the PI3K-delta inhibitor approved in China in 2022 for relapsed follicular lymphoma.
Shasqi
San Francisco, CA, US
Shasqi puts an inert form of a chemotherapy drug into the bloodstream and switches it on only inside the tumour, using a chemical reaction called click chemistry, so the rest of the body sees far less of the drug.
Shenzhen Ionova Life Sciences
Shenzhen, CN
Shenzhen Ionova Life Sciences is a China-based biotechnology company running 3 late-stage cancer trials of INV-8989, INV-6452 and INV-9956 in colorectal cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Signatur Biosciences
London, GB
Signatur turns complex gene-expression tests, starting with breast cancer prognosis, into simple PCR tests that a local hospital lab can run in days.
STCube
Seoul, KR
STCube is a South Korea-based biotechnology company running 2 late-stage cancer trials of Nelmastobart in non-small-cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer.
Stitchpoint Bio
United States (head office not published), US
Stitchpoint Bio is an Even One Ventures company outside cancer: antisense oligonucleotide medicines designed for a single rare disease patient's mutation, aiming to cut development from decades to months.
SynsoryBio
Boston, MA, US
SynsoryBio builds protein drugs with built-in if-then logic: they stay switched off until they sense they are in diseased tissue, a way to make immune-activating and cell-killing biologics usable at doses that would otherwise harm healthy tissue. It is preclinical, with a small team and no recorded financing.
TailorMed
New York, NY, US
TailorMed is software that finds and enrols patients in financial assistance programmes so they can afford expensive medicines, used by hospitals, cancer clinics and pharmacies.
TareBio
San Francisco, CA, US
TareBio reads the immune cells already fighting a cancer in a patient's body and works backwards to design a vaccine that makes more of them, in weeks rather than years.
Tradewind BioScience
San Francisco, CA, US
Tradewind is developing a single antibody for ovarian cancer that both attacks the tumour cells directly and helps the immune system attack them too.
Treadwell Therapeutics
Hong Kong, HK
Treadwell Therapeutics is a Hong Kong-based biotechnology company running 3 late-stage cancer trials of CFI-402411, CFI-400945 and CFI-402257 in acute myeloid leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms and HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
Triomics
New York, NY, US
Triomics builds AI agents that read the unstructured parts of a cancer patient's records, such as pathology reports and scanned faxes, to match patients to trials and prepare visits automatically.
UbiVac
United States (city not published), US
UbiVac is developing an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine aimed at proteins made from non-coding regions of the genome, with RNA sequencing to check a patient's tumour expresses the targets, and early data in head and neck cancer.
Valink Therapeutics
Boston, MA, US
Valink designs antibody-drug conjugates that grab two targets at once, aimed at solid tumours that immunotherapy does not reach.
Valius Sciences
United States (head office not published), US
Valius Sciences offers exhaustive tumour profiling for rare and advanced cancers, what it calls maximalist diagnostics for the toughest cases, and has raised 13 million dollars to build it.
Valo Health
Lexington, MA, US
Valo Health uses large collections of patient health records and artificial intelligence to work out which biological targets cause disease, then designs small-molecule drugs against them.
Velorum Therapeutics
San Francisco, CA, US
Velorum is developing cancer drugs that exploit heme, the iron-carrying molecule tumours depend on in unusual ways.
X-Zell
Bangkok, TH
X-Zell isolates rare abnormal cells from a blood sample and stains and images them so a pathologist can look for signs of cancer without a tissue biopsy.
Xcision Medical Systems
Columbia, MD, US
Xcision Medical Systems makes GammaPod, a radiotherapy machine built only for early breast cancer: the patient lies face down with the breast held in a vacuum cup while rotating cobalt-60 sources focus dose on part of the breast, allowing five sessions or fewer instead of four to six weeks. It is FDA-cleared and CE-marked but used at two listed sites.
Xcovery
Palm Beach Gardens, FL, US
Xcovery is the Florida company that developed ensartinib, an ALK inhibitor approved by the FDA in December 2024 for ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer, partnered with Betta Pharmaceuticals in China where it was approved first.
Xilio Therapeutics
Waltham, MA, US
Xilio designs immune-stimulating drugs, such as interleukin-2 and checkpoint antibodies, with a molecular mask that is removed only inside tumours, so they act where the cancer is and spare the rest of the body. Its newest drug combines a PD-1 antibody with masked IL-2 and has just been cleared to start trials.
Yemaachi Biotech
Accra, GH
Yemaachi collects and sequences cancer samples from across Africa, the most genetically diverse population on earth, so that cancer tests and drugs work for African patients too.
Yuga Bio
Sacramento, CA, US
Yuga Bio is an AI workspace for personalised cancer care: a patient's case wiki, agentic research on their tumour and their care team in one place, from diagnosis to treatment options.
zPREDICTA
San Jose, CA, US
zPREDICTA grew patient-derived tumour tissue in three-dimensional cultures that reproduce the tumour's surroundings, so drug companies could test cancer drugs on something closer to a real tumour. It was later acquired.

Most active investors

All investors

Counted from the graph: the number of OnCo companies that name the investor. This measures presence in this corpus, not fund size.

#InvestorPortfolio
1Y Combinator
San Francisco, CA, US
62
2Even One Ventures
United States (head office not published), US
14
3RA Capital Management
Boston, MA, US
10
4Atlas Venture
Cambridge, MA, US
6
5Frazier Life Sciences
Seattle, WA, US
6
6Alexandria Venture Investments
Pasadena, CA, US
5
7Flagship Pioneering
Cambridge, MA, US
5
8Foresite Capital
San Francisco, CA, US
5
9ARCH Venture Partners
Chicago, IL, US
4
10Jeito Capital
Paris, FR
4
11Lightspeed Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA, US
4
12Logos Capital
San Francisco, CA, US
4
13Novo Holdings
Hellerup, DK
4
14OrbiMed
New York, NY, US
4
15Versant Ventures
San Francisco, CA, US
4
16Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health
Menlo Park, CA, US
3
17Bpifrance
Paris, FR
3
18Cancer Research Horizons
London, GB
3
19Cormorant Asset Management
Boston, MA, US
3
20DCVC
Palo Alto, CA, US
3
21Samsara BioCapital
Palo Alto, CA, US
3
22Section 32 (S32)
San Diego, CA, US
3
23SV Health Investors
London, GB
3
24TCGX (TCG Crossover)
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, US
3
25Venrock
Palo Alto, CA, US
3

Recently funded

Newest sourced rounds

Rounds with a public source, newest first. Amounts appear only where the source gives one.

Browse by company type

Large pharma 111Biotech 384Diagnostics 98Imaging equipment 10Devices & RT hardware 45AI & software 104Radiopharmaceuticals 41Cell therapy 69Services 53Nonprofit 9Investor 70StartupGrowth stagePublicLarge privateAcquiredWound down

Method. A company is on this page when its stage is startup or growth, when it has a Y Combinator batch, or when it was bought or wound down after being venture-backed. Chinese and Indian companies are covered in their own passes and are not repeated here. Suggest a missing company or a correction through the edit link on any record.