AOA Dx has raised new capital and is preparing to scale, including with its first clinical trial for an early detection test for ovarian cancer.
But even though the company has its roots in Boston, its next stage of growth will not be focused on the city.
The biotech startup announced an oversubscribed $17 million round Wednesday morning led by Good Growth Capital. Other investors in the round included RH Capital, Y Combinator and FemHealth Ventures, as well as diagnostic investors like Labcorp Venture Fund.
This brings the company’s funding total to $24 million. AOA Dx closed a $7 million seed round last year.
AOA Dx was founded in 2020 by Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, Alex Fisher and Anna Jeter. CEO Papin-Zoghbi previously told BostInno the trio worked together over the course of 10 years at several women’s health companies before taking their own leap into entrepreneurship. Papin-Zoghbi said their goal with AOA Dx is to improve early detection of ovarian cancer, which leads to much higher survival rates.
The company says its platform, GlycoLocate, can differentiate between cancers down to their tissue of origin in both symptomatic and non-symptomatic patients. AOA Dx is initially focusing on ovarian cancer.
Papin-Zoghbi told BostInno that in January they recruited their first patient into a prospective clinical trial in the U.S. She said the goal is to use the trial to get the regulatory clearances needed to bring the ovarian cancer test to market.
AOA Dx has a team member in Boston and one in New York, but Papin-Zoghbi said the company is building out its lab and development team in Denver, Colorado.
Papin-Zoghbi said they didn’t initially plan on expanding in Colorado, but they secured several key hires in the area when their job descriptions were “remote first.” Papin-Zoghbi said they then looked into the job market and saw it was flooded with talent due to the closing of several companies, including a few diagnostics companies.
“From there, we started to really look at a rental space and lab space and the cost is just so much more affordable than anything in the Boston or New York area. It was wild,” she said.
AOA Dx is now headquartered in Colorado. Papin-Zoghbi still lives in New York but flies out West at least once a month. The chief executive said this gives her the opportunity to connect with investors in New York and Boston more easily, as the venture scene isn’t as developed in Colorado.
“We kind of hold the fort down over here for the needs of the business here, and then our scientific and our development and our medical team is mostly out West,” Papin-Zoghbi said.
With its new funding, Papin-Zoghbi said AOA Dx wants to further develop its platform to test for different types of cancer and conduct its trial for ovarian cancer. They’re also building up their lab infrastructure and hiring.
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