See other companies on Welcome to the Jungle
Exai Bio
RNA-based liquid biopsy for cancer detection
- 21-100 employees
- B2B
- Artificial Intelligence
- Biology
- MedTech
- Palo Verde, Palo Alto, CA
Jump to section
Company mission
To enable a world where cancer can be detected early, diagnosed accurately, treated in a personalized and targeted way, and ultimately cured.
Our take
Exai Bio’s AI-driven liquid biopsy platform was developed to enable faster and more accurate diagnosis of cancer, and in turn inform more personalized care programs. The startup is a spin out of the research of the University of California’s Hani Goodarzi, who serves as its scientific advisor.
What makes Exai Bio’s approach different from other cancer-detecting liquid biopsy tests is that, instead of measuring DNA-based markers, it focuses on a specific type of RNA known as non-coding RNA (oncRNA), which are prevalent in tumors but not in healthy tissue.
Though Exai Bio is far from the first startup to emerge with a mission to better diagnose and treat cancer, it does appear to be the first to have built oncRNA into the center of its approach – a factor which could see the company grow significantly.
As many as 40% of people get cancer at some point in their lives. For obvious reasons, any improvement in the diagnosis time frame and treatment for cancer patients could be huge.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Learning & development opportunities
- Flexible work schedules
- Meaningful equity awards
- Home office subsidy
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance with fully paid options for employees and substantial coverage for dependents
- Generous paid time off and holiday schedule
- 401k
- Hybrid and remote work options
- Commuter benefits
- Free lunch, snacks and drinks in office
- Training and education reimbursement
Company values
- Integrity – Our thoughts and actions are true to science and to people. We do the right thing.
- Openness – We recognize and respect our differences – and embrace learning from them.
- Teamwork – We are team players who trust and respect each other.
- Exploration – We are explorers, putting curiosity into action.
- Kindness – We are kind whenever possible – and we believe it’s always possible.
Funding (2 rounds)
Oct 2022
$71.5m
EARLY VC
Dec 2021
$67.5m
SERIES A
Total funding: $139m
Leadership
Pat Arensdorf
(CEO)Principal of Halteres Associates, LLC, which provides consulting services to bioscience organizations. Was CEO of Bluestar Genomics, Inc from 2016 to 2019, Critical Diagnostics from 2009 to 2011, and First Medical from 1999 to 2002. Former Executive Vice President of Executive Vice President of medical device startup Intersect ENT.
Babak Alipanahi
(Chief Scientific Officer)Former Senior Research Scientist at Google, and former Senior Computational Biologist at 23andMe. Co-founded Deep Genomics in 2015, which leverages AI to create genetic therapies.
Hani Goodarzi
(Scientific Advisor)Associate Professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), focusing on Cancer Biology and Genomics. Is also a Scientific Advisor at biopharmaceutical start-up Verge Genomics and AI Deep Tech company Deep Forest Sciences.