Quris, an artificial intelligence innovator disrupting the pharmaceutical arena, today announced the final close of $28 million in seed funding led by Welltech Ventures with participation from iAngels, and GlenRock Capital, among others.
No mice for men
When it comes to innovative health technology, Quris is a name to know. In partnership with The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, Quris is developing a fully automated, self-training AI platform that better predicts clinical safety and efficacy for new drug candidates. It is the first AI clinical-prediction platform; thus, it is a breakthrough technology in the field of pharmaceuticals. Essentially, their platform can simulate a real human body’s reaction to drugs by leveraging a patented organ-on-chip system using stem-cell-derived tissue and AI, to predict if a new drug will safely work on humans. Their AI-powered genetically diverse miniaturized “patients-on-a-chip” allows them to test thousands of known and novel drug candidates while avoiding tremendous risks and costs of failed clinical trials. This eliminates the reliance on ineffective animal testing. With technological sectors moving at paces faster than ever, there is no better time to combine tech with drug development, which is exactly what Quris is doing.
The seed funding and investor support will help Quris expand its team and build further partnerships. It will also fast-track their novel drug research and development. Since they are trying to rapidly scan hundreds of drug candidates to train their AI engine, this funding will go a long way in making that a reality, which will eventually help Quris close the clinical prediction gap.
“We seek to back the leaders defining the future of healthcare. As early investors in the pharma and digital-health space, we’ve seen how multidisciplinary capabilities, combining AI and biotech, are necessary to penetrate these highly complex and competitive industries which is exactly why we invested in Quris,” said Shelly Hod Moyal, managing partner of iAngels. Amir Alroy and Galit Horovitz, co-founders of Welltech Ventures continued, saying, “We are thrilled to take the lead in the company’s seed round, as we think Quris is primed to forge the next critical phase in novel drug discovery and its AI platform will also help the industry rethink how and when to best use existing drugs.”
Quris was founded in 2020 by Isaac Bentwich, MD, and Yossi Haran. Their team and advisory board include Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover, Dr. Robert S. Langer, co-founder of Moderna, Dr. Kobi Richter, pioneer of cardiovascular intervention therapeutics, and Moshe Yanai, a disruptive data-storage technology leader – dedicated to harnessing the power of breakthroughs in machine learning, engineering, and biology to change how drugs are developed.
