Drug discovery startup ArrePath scores $20M and more digital health fundings

Also: Rupa Health raised $20 million for its lab test platform and CancerIQ scooped up $14 million in Series B funding.
By Emily Olsen
02:31 pm
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Photo: filadendron/Getty Images

Drug discovery startup ArrePath announced Thursday it has raised $20 million in a seed funding round led by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Insight Partners and Innospark Ventures.

Other participants in the round include Viva BioInnovator, Arimed Capital, PTX Capital and Nor’easter Ventures. The company, which focuses on developing new types of anti-infective drugs to best antimicrobial resistance, plans to use the investment to support its machine learning-based drug discovery platform.

ArrePath also appointed Dr. Lloyd Payne as president and CEO. Payne most recently served as executive vice president, head of anti-infectives, at German drug discovery company Evotec.

"This financing is a strong vote of confidence, by a global investment syndicate, in our platform and its enormous potential in anti-infective drug discovery," Payne said in a statement. "The funding will enable the advancement of our initial leads and expansion of our discovery efforts, as well as the enhancement of our imaging platform and the application of machine learning in the discovery of new drugs to address critical global health challenges."


Rupa Health, which offers a platform where providers can order a variety of lab tests and receive results, scored $20 million in Series A funding.

The round was led by Bessemer Ventures with participation from existing investors including First Round Capital, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, Floodgate, Hustle Fund, Operator Collective, the Chainsmokers, Jared Leto and Joe Montana.

In a post on the company's website, CEO and cofounder Tara Viswanathan said the platform allows providers to order traditional labs alongside other tests developed by independent companies, like microbiome analyses, which may be more difficult to access. 


CancerIQ announced it had raised $14 million in a Series B funding round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Amgen Ventures. Other participants include McKesson Ventures, OSF Ventures and HealthX Ventures.

The startup's platform is embedded in an EHR and helps providers determine an individual patient's cancer risk based on family history, genetics, health behaviors and other factors. It can also send patients down different care pathways depending on results, like screenings, vaccinations and lifestyle changes.

CancerIQ scored $4.8 million in Series A financing in 2020. 

"CancerIQ’s vision is to end cancer as we know it by eliminating health disparities and democratizing access to the latest advances in cancer early detection and prevention," cofounder and CEO Feyi Olopade Ayodele said in a statement.

"We started by making genetic testing more accessible and connecting patients to the right preventive services at the right time. This latest round of funding will help CancerIQ reach more patients and connect to more innovations that promise to transform cancer from a deadly disease to a manageable condition."


Daybreak Health, a digital mental health company for children and teens focused on schools, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, according to Axios

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Maven Ventures and individual investors. The round comes about a year after the company announced a $1.8 million seed round.

Daybreak plans to use the funding to expand across the country and focus on health equity.


juli, an AI-enabled app that tracks metrics like activity, sleep, lab results, EHR data and weather to help users manage chronic conditions, raised $3.8 million in seed funding.

The round was led by Speedinvest and Norrsken VC, with participation from SoftBank's Vision Fund Emerge Program and Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures.

"juli is helping patients, providers and employers identify behavioral triggers that worsen or improve the most hard-to-treat and complex chronic conditions, including asthma, migraines, depression and bipolar disorder," CEO and cofounder Bettina Hein said in a statement. "With the support of Speedinvest, Norrsken and our other investors, we will be able to expand our reach to improve patient health and lower healthcare costs."

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