Cancer doesn’t care who you are, it levels CEOs and interns alike. But every now and then, a startup steps up with science sharp enough to cut through the noise. Valink Therapeutics just closed an $11.8M Pre-A round to take that swing, led by redalpine with LongeVC, Oxford Science Enterprises, RV Invest, p53 Invest & Hoxton Ventures joining the mix. That brings total funding to $19.8M since 2021, and if you’ve been watching the bis ADC space, you know this isn’t just capital, it’s a catalyst.
Founded by Dr. Arne Scheu & Dr. Irsyad Khairil, two Oxford biochemists who turned modular protein assembly into a biotech weapon, Valink is rewriting oncology’s tempo. Their LiliumX platform can generate & screen 1K+ bispecific ADCs per week, basically turning months of discovery into a 1-day loop. Scheu, a Rhodes Scholar & Forbes 30 Under 30 name, brought Oxford precision to Boston when he launched Valink’s U.S. HQ this year. Khairil, a data-driven molecular craftsman, keeps the platform’s logic clean & the biology smarter. Together, they’re building therapeutics that don’t just hit targets, they make them talk to each other.
Valink’s V-gate tech goes past traditional ADCs by pairing targets that unlock rare biological synergies, the kind pharma spends decades trying to stumble into. It’s like mixing two tracks that shouldn’t blend, and somehow creating a new genre. That fusion is what caught redalpine’s Michael Sidler, who called Valink’s work “a compelling advancement on traditional ADC strategies.” Translation: this isn’t biotech as usual, it’s programmable biology tuned for impact.
Operating between London & Boston, Valink blends Oxford-born rigor with East-Coast hustle. Behind them stands a board stacked with experience, Martin D. Williams, ex-CEO of Caraway Therapeutics (acquired by Merck); Michael Sidler of redalpine; Aleksei Zeifman of RV Invest; and Alexey A. Lugovskoy of Diagonal Therapeutics. On the science front, Dr. Jose Munoz-Olaya, ex-AstraZeneca & Adaptate, leads R&D with the same energy that moves ideas off whiteboards & into preclinical pipelines.
Their advisory board is a clinic in excellence, Dr. Robert Lutz (Iksuda Therapeutics), Dr. Sonia Quaratino (Innate Pharma), Dr. Marc Damelin (Alphina Therapeutics), Antoine Awad (Synlogic), and Dr. Mihriban Tuna (Immutrin). These aren’t consultants, they’re architects of modern ADCs, the people who’ve built the category Valink now aims to evolve.
The global bispecific antibody market is projected to jump from ~$12B in 2024 to >$400B by 2034, a 40%+ CAGR. The first bsADC approval could land by 2029, and Valink is already building for that horizon. This $11.8M isn’t just fuel, it’s validation. When science, timing & execution align, you don’t need slogans. You need results. And Valink Therapeutics is quietly engineering them, one molecule at a time.
