A Madison-based cancer diagnostics startup founded by a former executive of Cologuard developer Exact Sciences Corp. said Tuesday that it has raised $55 million in funding.
Elephas Biosciences Corp. said the Series C round was led by Venture Investors Health Fund of Madison and State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), which oversees retirement trust funds, state funds and money from Wisconsin municipalities.
Continuing investments were made by Northpond Ventures, ARCH Ventures, Sands Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Tao Invest and WARF Ventures. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is the patent and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The startup is building an oncology imaging diagnostics platform designed to determine whether a given type of therapy will work for a patient before their treatment begins. Its technology tests patient biopsies against different drugs and uses advanced 3D imaging and artificial intelligence to predict their effectiveness.
Elephas is now conducting observational clinical trials and has launched its biopharma services offering in 2023, partnering with biopharma companies to accelerate immunotherapy drug development using the Elephas platform.
"We remain intensely focused on our mission to improve care for cancer patients," Maneesh Arora, founder and CEO of Elephas, said in a press release. "Supported by world class venture firms, we are committed to building a platform that can help guide clinicians and enhance access to life-changing immunotherapies."
The latest round brings the total raised by Elephas to $116.5 million. ARCH Ventures led a $41.5 million Series B in 2022, which followed a $20 million round the year before. All of the Series C investors invested in the Series B round, with the exception of Venture Investors.
"The Elephas platform holds immense promise to address a critical unmet need in predicting response to immunotherapy," Venture Investors Health Fund's Paul Weiss said in the release. "We are excited to work side by side with the company to pioneer a new diagnostic era for immunotherapy that will improve both access to therapy and outcomes for patients."
XMS Capital Partners acted as financial adviser to the company.
Arora's previous employer, Exact Sciences (Nasdaq: EXAS), is a Madison cancer diagnostics firm known for its at-home colon cancer test Cologuard.
