A startup spun out from a Japanese university has raised US$22 million to propel expansion of its proprietary multi-cancer urine biopsy in the United States. The “miSignal” test has been available throughout pharmacies and medical centres in Japan since 2022.
Craif founder and chief executive Ryuichi Onose just made the funding reveal in an interview with TechCrunch. His biotech company has raised US$57 million to date and now has a valuation just below US$100 million. It was created at Nagoya University in 2018, co-founded with nanotechnology expert and professor Takao Yasui.
“Powered by AI and urinary microRNA analysis, we aim to make early cancer detection more accessible and less invasive,” Onose said in a social media post on Monday. “We’re excited to expand our R&D operations in California and establish a U.S. business base in San Diego.”
X&KSK, a multinational venture capital firm and Craif investor, led the recent financing round. It focuses on AI and software businesses and organizations.
Alongside companies developing innovative cancer screening technologies like Breath Diagnostics and bioAffinity Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: BIAF), Craif aims to provide a non-invasive and accurate means of diagnosing cancer.
“Let’s keep pushing the frontier of early disease detection!” Onose added.
Craif wants to help diagnose 10 cancers
Onose says the people who have opted to use the company’s miSignal test are concerned about cancer but feel that conventional screening measures are inconvenient, time-consuming and costly.
Currently, the test can determine how likely it is that a subject has lung, ovarian, pancreatic, stomach, esophageal, breast or colorectal cancer. Craif aims to add three more cancers from the disease group to that list by the end of 2025.
“By measuring urinal microRNA from exosome extracted by this device and analyzing the samples using machine learning algorithms, we sucessfully developed an algorithm to distinguish cancer from non-cancer samples with high sensitivity and specificity in seven cancer types,” the oncology operator has explained on its website.
Craif is headquartered in Tokyo and has a biomedical engineering institute at Nagoya University where it conducts research.
Read more: Breath Diagnostics onboards new president and closes critical financing
Read more: Breath Diagnostics pioneers novel lung cancer breath test
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