Big move in the biotech trenches, Elephas Biosciences just scored $40M in Series B-2 funding to fuel the next phase of its live tumor profiling tech. The round brought repeat believers Northpond Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Tao Capital Partners, Sands Capital & Venture Investors Health Fund back to the table. XMS Capital Partners ran point as financial advisor.
Founded in 2020 by cancer-diagnostics veteran Maneesh Arora (CEO) and oncology scientist Jonathan Oliner (Co-Founder/CSO), Elephas is fixing one of medicine’s most frustrating gaps, why only ~20% of cancer patients actually respond to immunotherapy. Their platform aims to end that “try it and pray” cycle by predicting treatment response before a single drug is dosed.
Arora built his rep scaling Exact Sciences from 3 employees to 3,000+ as COO/CFO and driving Cologuard into mainstream medicine. Oliner, a former Amgen exec and the scientist behind Trebananib, brings hard-core oncology chops. Together they’re bridging live cell biology, AI & imaging to turn precision oncology from buzzword into clinical reality.
At the heart of it: the Elephas Live™ Platform, an ex-vivo system that keeps tumor samples alive and observes their reaction to immunotherapies in real time. Using dynamic optical coherence microscopy, multiphoton imaging & fluorescence-lifetime tech, the platform tracks immune cell activity and tumor response over 48-72 hours without destroying the sample. Live™ Edge (auto-cutter) and Live™ Protect (hydrogel) lock in accuracy and viability while AI translates massive data into predictive insight.
This $40M infusion pushes Elephas toward its 2026 launch of a lab-developed test (LDT) that lets pathology labs run rapid response assays on-site. The raise also powers international growth; the first patient in India was screened this fall through inDNA Life Sciences & Sparsh Hospital, and expands biopharma services that help drug developers validate compounds in weeks.
The ELEPHAS-04 trial (NCT06349642) is already testing how closely Elephas scores match clinical outcomes across solid tumors. Meanwhile, a multi-year collaboration with Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center keeps validation firmly anchored in translational science. Advisors like Drs. Jérôme Galon and Janis Taube (from INSERM & Johns Hopkins) are helping steer scientific depth that few startups can match.
Why the buzz? Because the global cancer diagnostics market (~$120B today) is projected to hit $300B+ by the 2030s, and immunotherapy is already a $130B game with no reliable predictive tool. That’s the gap Elephas plans to own.
