Cancilico, a Dresden-based AI diagnostics startup focused on blood cancers, has raised a €2.5 million Seed round to expand commercialization and pursue regulatory pathways for its bone marrow analysis software, MyeloAID. The financing was led by a syndicate that included High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), TGFS – Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, GEDAD GmbH (the Ehninger family’s investment vehicle), and ROI Verwaltungsgesellschaft (Roland Oetker).
The company says the new capital will be used to make MyeloAID a routine tool in hematology labs, with an emphasis on improving diagnostic speed and consistency for hematological malignancies and accelerating digital biomarker development. Cancilico positions MyeloAID as a platform-independent system designed to work with standard imaging microscopes and scanners, allowing labs to upgrade diagnostic workflows without replacing existing hardware. The software is already available in a “Research Use Only” (RUO) version and is being used via Smart In Media’s PathoZoom Scan & LiveView Suite.
Cancilico’s approach centers on an AI model trained on a large validated dataset spanning multiple malignancies and healthy controls, supplemented by partnerships with hematopathology centers. The startup also says early collaborations with pharmaceutical partners have shown initial progress toward faster biomarker and therapeutic development.
Investors pointed to early traction and the team’s combination of clinical and technical expertise. HTGF Principal Dr. Jörg Traub said the company’s RUO data models and training approach—incorporating both diseased and healthy samples—support faster and more reliable classification. CEO and co-founder Markus Badstübner said the funding will help the company navigate FDA and CE-IVDR requirements while bringing a product to market that integrates into existing lab infrastructure. CMO and co-founder Dr. Moritz Middeke described MyeloAID as a “digital colleague” intended to support hematologists amid a growing global specialist shortage.
Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from the EKFZ for Digital Health at TU Dresden and University Hospital Dresden, Cancilico is active in the Saxon life sciences ecosystem, including engagement with Biosaxony and participation in the SaxoCell and SEMECO Clusters4Future initiatives.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are convinced to invest in a winning team and a superior technology that has already gained commercial traction with its ‘Research Use Only’ data models… Cancilico has established a convincing AI model using training data that includes not only diseased patient samples but also healthy datasets, allowing for better and faster classification.”
Dr. Jörg Traub, Principal, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)
“We are facing a global shortage of hematologists, yet the complexity of diagnostic cases is rising. Our goal is to democratize access to expert-level diagnostics. This investment allows us to navigate the FDA and CE-IVDR regulatory landscapes and bring a tool to market that integrates seamlessly with existing lab hardware to improve patient outcomes without heavy capital expenditure.”
Markus Badstübner, CEO and Co-Founder, Cancilico
“Bone marrow analysis is one of the most complex and time-intensive disciplines in hematology. By training our AI on a diverse range of healthy and pathological datasets, we developed a tool that acts as a highly skilled ‘digital colleague’. This funding is a crucial step toward bringing this technology to the labs, where it will help to make faster, more accurate diagnoses for blood cancer patients.”
Dr. Moritz Middeke, CMO and Co-Founder, Cancilico
