Israeli AI start-up raises US$12m to advance cancer drug discovery

The Israeli start-up Protai has raised US$12m to develop an oncology drug discovery pipeline.

The funding round, which brings the total amount to US$20m, will be used to build the company’s oncology drug discovery pipeline, expand data acquisition and increase pharma partnerships.

Protai has built an end-to-end AI-based platform that maps the course of a disease on the protein level, enhancing the ability to observe cellular function and improving the way new drugs are discovered.

This approach, the company says, increases accuracy in drug discovery and improves the development process, saving time and lowering the costs of R&D.

Since its initial funding last year, the start-up has opened laboratories at its Israel R&D centre for data acquisition, biological validation and drug discovery activities and recruited a specialist drug discovery team.

With the additional funding, Protai is hoping to expand its activities to include an oncology drug discovery pipeline, initially focusing on targets with a clearly-defined novel patient population biomarker, derived from its AI proteomics platform.

Eran Seger, CEO and co-founder of Protai, said: “We are excited to announce this funding that supports our mission to enhance the drug development pathway from discovery through commercialisation.

“I am extremely proud of our talented team and the achievements we have made to date.

“We look forward to scaling our organisation and its important work towards revolutionising the drug development landscape.”

Jeppe Christian, CEO of Maj Invest Equity Fund, said: “Our investment in Protai highlights Maj Invest’s increasing investment in the Israeli tech ecosystem.

“We are excited to partner with this exceptional team, and we are positive that Protai will make a huge leap forward in how patients are treated and cured.”

Breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer and bladder cancer are some of most common types of cancer in Israel, with one in eight women being at risk of developing breast cancer.