In a significant boost for drug development technology, QurieGen, a Nijmegen-based startup, has successfully raised €2.2 million in a pre-seed funding round. The funding has been supported by a consortium of investors from the Central and Eastern European region, including Tensor Ventures, Lighthouse Ventures, BSV Ventures, Moondust Ventures, and 22 Hor Invest. Notably, Tim Draper, a prominent US venture capital investor known for his early investments in companies like SpaceX and Tesla, also participated in this funding round.
QurieGen plans to utilize these funds to develop advanced artificial intelligence-based technology aimed at accelerating drug development processes within oncology. The startup, founded in April 2022 as a spin-off from Radboud University, seeks to address the critical challenges faced in drug development, particularly the lengthy timelines, high costs, and substantial failure rates associated with traditional methods.
“At the time I was diagnosed as an oncological patient, we were developing groundbreaking single-cell technology alongside a multidisciplinary team of scientists and pharma experts in the Netherlands. At the same time, there was a request from a pharmaceutical company to study a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration as it did not work as expected. This was our first paid project in which we designed a special technology to study single cells. Eventually, this project and two others with pharmaceutical companies led to the creation of the startup QurieGen, which I currently lead,” explained Kinga Matuła, co-founder and CEO of QurieGen.
The company's innovative platform integrates cellular mapping, single-cell genomics, and advanced data science to construct predictive models of disease biology and drug responses. This approach is designed to de-risk drug development by providing faster and more affordable solutions. QurieGen’s proprietary QuRIE-seq™ technology allows for high-resolution mapping of cellular responses, quantifying mRNA, membrane proteins, intracellular proteins, and phosphoproteins at a single-cell level.
Dr. Matuła likened QurieGen’s technology to a “Google Maps for cells,” emphasizing its potential to save millions of lives impacted by serious medical conditions. The startup operates at the intersection of the Netherlands and Poland, leveraging the scientific expertise in the Netherlands alongside the technological capabilities found in Poland.
QurieGen's recent achievements are noteworthy. In July 2022, the startup won the Draper Hero and has recently been recognized as one of the top seventy-four startups selected from a pool of 2,600 applicants for the prestigious NATO DIANA program. This program supports the development of dual-use technologies applicable in both civilian and defense sectors. As part of this opportunity, QurieGen will receive €100,000 in funding, gain access to over 180 test centers, and participate in one of thirteen dedicated accelerators.
“This is an incredible honor for us and a significant milestone in our journey,” said Maciej Jarząb, COO and co-founder of QurieGen. “Being part of the NATO DIANA program not only validates our technology but also provides us with a unique opportunity to develop dual-use solutions that can have a meaningful impact in both the commercial and defense sectors. This selection serves as a powerful catalyst for our growth, opening doors to new partnerships, cutting-edge research, and global expansion,” he added.
The challenges of drug development are daunting. Bringing a new drug to market can take between 10 to 15 years and cost between €1.5 to €2 billion, with a staggering clinical trial failure rate of 95 to 97%. These statistics highlight the inefficiencies in the current drug development landscape, where traditional analytical methods often fail to fully reveal how cells respond to drugs. This can lead to unexpected side effects, reduced effectiveness, or drug resistance.
QurieGen’s QuRIE-seq™ technology tackles these issues head-on by offering a platform that integrates single-cell genomics, multi-omic analysis, and AI predictive modeling. This innovative approach provides high-resolution insights into cellular responses across multiple molecular layers, allowing researchers to understand drug interactions dynamically, rather than relying on static snapshots.
Maciej Jarząb noted, “The majority of the round will go toward building the world’s largest database of cell–drug molecule interactions. Over the next 12 months, we plan to grow our team by 50% to accelerate both research and technology development. Additional resources will be directed toward automating our data analysis pipeline and launching the first features of our AI platform.”
QurieGen is not alone in the competitive field of single-cell genomics and multi-omics; it stands alongside notable competitors like 10x Genomics, Mission Bio, Fluidigm Corporation, Illumina, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. However, QurieGen differentiates itself by integrating multiple molecular layers simultaneously, creating a more comprehensive understanding of cellular responses compared to its rivals.
The startup has already begun collaborating with major pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca’s Acerta Pharma and Janssen Pharmaceutica (Johnson & Johnson), to provide insights into drug mechanisms of action and patient-specific responses. This positions QurieGen to transform the drug discovery and development landscape significantly.
Looking forward, QurieGen's short-term goals include establishing its leadership in single-cell analysis and partnering with pharmaceutical companies to identify promising drug targets. Its long-term vision aims to enable data-driven discoveries of new cellular response patterns and drug targets, alongside the development of AI-driven tools for precision medicine.
“Our goal is to build a fully integrated AI platform capable of rapidly and accurately designing new drug therapies using our proprietary database. This will dramatically reduce the time, cost, and complexity involved in drug development. We aim to shift the industry from a trial-and-error approach to a fast, data-driven model of therapeutic discovery,” concluded Jarząb.
Investors have expressed strong confidence in QurieGen’s potential. Marios Nicolettis, Managing Partner at Moondust Ventures, stated, “Our investment in QurieGen aligns perfectly with our mission at Moondust Ventures: backing outstanding and visionary teams leveraging technology to transform healthcare. QurieGen’s AI-driven approach to drug discovery has the potential to revolutionize therapeutic development and drive breakthroughs in precision medicine.” Similarly, Sandra Golbreich, General Partner at BSV Ventures, remarked, “We invested in QurieGen because we see not only a transformative technology with the potential to revolutionize cancer drug development but also an exceptionally strong and diverse team driving it forward.”
