ViewsML wants to make it easier for clinicians and scientists to extract insights from human tissue samples outside the laboratory with the help of AI.
The Vancouver-based startup announced today that it has closed $4.9 million CAD in seed funding to execute on that vision and commercialize its platform.
ViewsML is developing AI models designed to derive biomarker insights from pathology images, virtually, without the need for lab staining.
Biomarkers are measurable signals in a patient’s tissue that indicate something about disease, such as whether cancer is present, how aggressive it is, or if a treatment is likely to work. They can come in the form of proteins or cellular patterns in a tumour.
ViewsML is developing “the computational layer for next-generation diagnostics.”
“We saw an opportunity to improve an antiquated process that hasn’t meaningfully changed in nearly 80 years,” ViewsML co-founder and CEO Kenneth To told BetaKit in an email. “With the ushering in of the AI era and the rise of digital pathology, the space was ripe for disruption.”
Biomarker detection plays an important role in the development of precision medicines. But traditionally, finding them has required lab technicians to “stain” human tissue samples in a lab using chemicals and methods like immunohistochemistry (IHC). This process can be time-consuming, expensive, and destructive to the tissue samples.
“With traditional [IHC], turnaround times stretch from days to weeks, tissue samples are consumed, and variability in interpretation can impact downstream decisions in both clinical care and trials,” To said. “These challenges create bottlenecks for both clinical decision-making and research.” ViewsML aims to address these limitations by enabling faster, non-destructive, and more scalable biomarker analysis.”
With its platform and virtual biomarker library, ViewsML aims to convert this lab-bound process into software. The idea is to speed up and reduce the cost of analyzing tissue while preserving scarce samples, enabling “a faster, more scalable path to precision medicine.”
ViewsML’s all-equity, all-primary capital seed round, which closed last week, was led by Toronto’s Wittington Ventures. Fellow new backers, Toronto’s Continuum Health Ventures and renowned US medical centre the Mayo Clinic supported, alongside existing investors, Toronto-based RiSC Capital, Swiss biopharma firm Debiopharm, as well as Vancouver-based WUTIF Capital, Defined, and eFund. It brings ViewsML’s total funding to $6.5 million.
“Biomarkers are foundational to how we understand and treat disease, yet the way we measure them remains constrained by legacy approaches,” Wittington partner Zeeshan Ali said in a release. “ViewsML is redefining how biomarkers are measured and analyzed—unlocking a step-change in speed, scale, and accessibility across research and clinical settings.”
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While ViewsML is primarily competing against the traditional physical IHC process, To said it the startup is not looking to replace IHC outright. Rather, it aims to “act as a digital, computational layer that can complement existing workflows” and reduce the number of patients that ultimately require physical testing.
To claimed ViewsML is already working with top 10 pharmaceutical firms, diagnostic companies, and healthcare systems. He expects this financing to help the 11-person startup expand that work, grow its virtual biomarker library, and begin to build out use cases in clinical diagnostics, with new hires across its engineering, scientific, and commercial teams.
UPDATE (04/21/26): This story has been updated to include additional information and commentary shared by ViewsML co-founder and CEO Kenneth To.
Feature image courtesy ViewsML.