Cure51 raises €15M to support the development of cutting-edge therapies by cancer survivors

The BioTech startup Cure51 focused on uncovering the biological processes underlying extraordinary cancer survivors’ longevity, has successfully raised €15 million in a seed fundraising round.

The round was headed by Sofinnova Partners. Moreover, Hitachi Ventures GmbH, Life Extension Ventures, Xavier Niel, and Olivier Pomel, the CEO and co-founder of Datadog, were among the other investors.

Empowering Cancer Survivors

With the help of the funds, Cure51 will be able to establish a distinctive cohort and investigate the biological mechanisms that allow some cancer patients to live long lives even while their disease is extremely aggressive. Further, by releasing these processes, the business hopes to provide novel insights for precision medicine and therapeutic target development, empowering each patient to become an extraordinary survivor. Moreover, the innovative analytical methods and the solid alliance the company has built with top oncology facilities across the globe are essential to this project.

Simon Turner, partner at Sofinnova Partners, said:

“Cure51 has taken this to a whole new level in terms of the scale of the endeavor plus leveraging the latest in analytical techniques. Looking at mechanisms of exceptional survival’ is not a new concept. Further, the ambitious team at Cure51 and their robust clinical network make this an investment we’re happy to support.”

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Joanna Soroka, Ph.D., Principal at Hitachi Ventures GmbH, stated:

“Modern AI models require world-class datasets to uncover novel biology and discover transformative medicines, and this is what Cure51 is uniquely creating for cancer patients.”

Founding and Mission

Nicolas Wolikow and Simon Istolainen founded Cure51 in March 2022 with the help of seasoned businesspeople and four internationally recognized cancer centers: the Gustave Roussy Institute (IGR, Paris, France); the Leon Bérard Center (CLB, Lyon, France); Charité Universitätsmedizin (Berlin, Germany); Milan, Italy; and Vall d’Hebron (VHIO, Barcelona, Spain). By rewriting the story of cancer, the goal is to lead the development of the first global clinical and genomic database of cancer survivors. Cure51 analyzes outliers, or people who miraculously survive the most aggressive forms of cancer, such as glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer in the metastatic stage, instead of concentrating on the disease causes.

Nicolas Wolikow, co-founder and CEO of Cure51, stated: “This funding marks a pivotal moment in Cure51’s journey, but more importantly, in the path towards curing cancer.”

Simon Istolainen, Chief Strategy and Scientific Network Officer at Cure51 and co-founder, said:

“With this support, we are moving closer to discovering survival mechanisms and, in the end, rescuing countless lives.”

With its proprietary partnership-based data collection system, Cure51 enables the creation of a unique multimodal and multiomics Outliers database. Furthermore, Cure51 aims to uncover the biological mechanisms behind exceptional survival by identifying and confirming targets through its computational modeling-powered discovery platform, thus paving the way for first-in-class medicines.

Image Credit: Cure51