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—health indicators such as the presence of a certain nutrient in blood or tissue— from pathology images, virtually, without the need for lab staining.
ViewsML is developing “the computational layer for next-generation diagnostics.”
Biomarker detection plays an important role in the development of precision medicines. But traditionally, finding specific biomarkers has required lab technicians to “stain” human tissue samples using chemicals. This process can be slow, expensive, and destructive to the tissue samples. According to ViewsML, it has also become a bottleneck in the drug development and diagnostic process.
With its platform and virtual biomarker library, ViewsML aims to convert this lab-bound process into software. By doing this, the startup hopes to speed up and reduce the cost of analyzing tissue while preserving scarce samples, enabling “a faster, more scalable path to precision medicine.”
The company’s seed round was led by Wittington Ventures. New backers Continuum Health Ventures and Mayo Clinic supported, alongside existing investors RiSC Capital, Debiopharm, WUTIF Capital, Defined, and eFund.
“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.”
As ViewsML co-founder and CEO Kenneth To put it in the release, ViewsML is developing “the computational layer for next-generation diagnostics.”
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“By building the world’s first virtual biomarker library, we’re going to empower scientists and clinicians to analyze biomarker staining in minutes rather than the traditional days or weeks,” he added.
ViewsML intends to put the capital towards expanding strategic partnerships, advancing clinical validation of its virtual biomarker panels, and growing its engineering, scientific, and commercial teams.
Feature image courtesy ViewsML.