SubjectWell raises $35M to expand access to clinical trials for cancer and other diseases

Back in March, Austin startup SubjectWell opened up its platform, which connects patients with clinical trials, to people diagnosed with lung cancer. Then it expanded to breast cancer patients.

Meanwhile, its surveys of at-risk patients are finding a lot of demand from people with liver disease and other ailments who would like to try emerging treatments.

The company declined to share revenue figures, but it said revenue has climbed 800% in the past two years, with expectations to double that in the next 12 months.

With that traction, the company said Oct. 20 it has raised $35 million in series B funding led by Palo Alto firm Asset Management Ventures. 

The startup, founded in 2012 by Ivor Clarke, Rick Westervelt, Kip McKenzie and Joel Lucas, raised its $10 million series A in 2019 with backers including New York-based Windham Venture Partners, Healthy Ventures and San Antonio-based Geekdom Fund. Those firms reinvested in the series B. Plus, new investor Bertelsmann Investments joined in. 

SubjectWell currently has 236 employees, including 62 at its headquarters in Austin and 11 remote workers across the U.S. Its medical team office, in Cape Town, South Africa, has 163 employees. 

The company is focused on rapid expansion. It plans to add 20-35 new jobs in Austin in the next 12 months, and it's looking to hire 90 employees in South Africa to support new patient screenings generated by its clinical trials marketplace expansion.

“Patient recruitment remains the largest choke point in clinical development – despite over $5 billion being spent annually. SubjectWell’s highly differentiated and scalable solution markedly reduces our clients’ enrollment timelines,” Clarke stated. “SubjectWell expands access to clinical trials by engaging the 96% of the population that has never participated in clinical research – this approach allows us to engage a much more diverse patient population as we register 250,000 new patients per month.”

Earlier this year, SubjectWell moved into a new office near the northwest corner of MoPac Expressway and Steck Avenue in North Austin. The building is 20,000 square feet, with space for up to 130 employees. The company worked with tenant representative Stayton Wright at Transwestern to get the space.