Medeloop, a Menlo Park-based life sciences startup, has secured $15.5 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered platform that's turning multi-year research projects into week-long endeavors.
Why it matters: Drug development costs can reach $4.46 billion, while over 7,000 rare diseases remain without treatments. Medeloop's tech could dramatically reduce these numbers by making sophisticated research tools accessible to smaller institutions.
The details: Inovia Capital led the round, with Icon Ventures joining as a major investor. Previous backers General Catalyst and Maven Ventures also participated.
Behind the mission: CEO Rene Caissie launched Medeloop after his daughter was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a rare condition without effective treatments.
"This experience revealed the inefficiencies in current medical research," Caissie tells us. "We've crafted a platform that accelerates research, reduces costs, and enables significant advancements in patient outcomes."
How it works: Medeloop’s platform uses autonomous AI agents to handle tasks traditionally managed by research teams, significantly accelerating processes. Key features include:
- AI-powered grant and funding tools: Researchers can locate and apply for grants more efficiently.
- Clinical trial management: The platform integrates mobile and web applications, enabling seamless data collection from trial participants.
- No-code data analytics: Researchers can perform complex analyses without extensive programming knowledge, reducing project timelines from years to weeks.
- Manuscript publication support: Facilitates the process from study completion to peer-reviewed publication.
By the numbers: The company estimates that its platform can perform analyses up to 1,000 times faster than traditional research methods.
The Series A brings Medeloop's total funding to $25.5 million since its 2021 launch. Current clients include UC San Diego, UCSF, and McGill University.
What's next: With this round, Medeloop plans a 36-month runway, providing financial stability to focus on its expansion into academic medical centers, smaller universities, and biotech companies. The team envisions deploying the platform to more universities by year’s end and is actively engaging pharma companies for broader clinical trial applications.