OncoHost Secures $8 Million Series B Funding Round

OncoHost, a global leader in technology involving host response profiling and personalized cancer therapy, has completed a $8 million Series B funding round. The new funding will help advance the company’s AI-powered precision oncology platform. 

The investment is set to be used to expand clinical trials, support the opening of a U.S. office, and to prepare for commercial launch. 

OncoHost

OncoHost is a start-up focused on clinical stage precision oncology. By pairing life-science research with advanced machine learning technology, the company develops personalized strategies for cancer treatment. 

As of right now, the clinical trials are focused on melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, but the company is working on expanding it to other areas. 

Funding Round

The Series B funding round was led by OurCrowd, which is an investment platform developed specifically for accredited investors and institutions to invest in start-ups, early-stage companies, and venture funds. Other investors included a group of family offices and private investors.

Jon Medved is CEO of OurCrowd.

“As the renowned entrepreneur Marc Andreesen said, ‘Software will eat the world,’ and OncoHost is proving that software will help eat cancer,” Medved said. “We are excited about leading this important funding round for such a transformational company. OncoHost is demonstrating that smart software can take an already promising technology such as immunotherapy and make it so much smarter.”

One of the major focuses of the funding will be to prepare for the launch of PROphet ®, which is the company’s machine learning-based Host Response Profiling platform. It combines proteomic analysis with AI and is used to predict patient response to immunotherapy. By doing this, clinicians gain insight into potential combination strategies that can be used to overcome treatment resistance. 

The company plans to make PROphet ® first available to healthcare providers so it can be used to help assess how a specific patient is responding to a specific treatment. The platform will help the oncologist and patient arrive at informed decisions regarding treatment options, lines of therapy, potential combination treatments, and clinical trial participation. 

Ofer Sharon, MD, is CEO of OncoHost. 

“This investment round supports our mission to better predict response to immunotherapy and identify personalized treatment options for cancer patients, as we continue to expand our collaboration with pharma on clinical trials and drug development,” said Sharon. “Proteomic analysis is allowing us to make great advances in personalized cancer care, and we are grateful to our investors for their support in the midst of this particularly challenging time of a global pandemic. The future of personalized cancer care is no longer a distant reality, but within our reach. We look forward to what 2021 holds for OncoHost.”