Promise Bio, a startup transforming immune-mediated disease treatment with advanced precision medicine solutions, has emerged from stealth with a $8.3 million seed investment. The round was led by Awz Ventures alongside funding from AION Labs backed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer, which backed Jnana Therapeutics. It also includes a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority.
The investment will accelerate the development of Promise Bio’s computational platform, which uses epiproteomics and AI to predict patient treatment responses and support drug research and development. It will strengthen the company’s ability to scale its technology and expand its research capabilities.
Cloud-based AI platform for healthcare
Promise Bio was founded in 2023 in Tel Aviv by Ronel Veksler and Dr. Assaf Kacen to redefine how auto-immune diseases are treated. The platform is rooted in years of foundational research conducted by Dr. Assaf Kacen in the lab of Prof. Yifat Merbl at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The research into protein modifications and immune response laid the foundation for developing the company’s computational platform.
The groundbreaking research into protein modifications and immune response, featured in Nature Biotechnology in 2023, laid the foundation for developing Promise Bio’s computational platform. Dr. Kacen built on this research to create a system that enables broad-scale profiling of dozens of post-translational modifications (PTMs) from mass-spectrometry data without needing customised chemical enrichment or additional lab procedures. This will help researchers uncover disease mechanisms, tailor therapies, and discover new drug targets.
“Determining the change in the protein level or relying on just blood count caused by a complex immune response is like looking at a black-and-white TV screen with poor resolution,” said Dr. Assaf Kacen, Co-Founder & CTO of Promise Bio. “Our platform extracts modifications that occur to the proteins resulting from the disease; those specific changes inform us about aberrations in protein function or regulation. Interpreting it with machine learning approaches is like watching a colored TV with an unparalleled high-resolution view of the underlying biology.”
“Current biological treatments for autoimmune diseases don’t work in all patients, with only 30-40% of patients achieving significant remission. At Promise Bio, our mission is to eliminate the trial-and-error approach by introducing tools for data-driven decisions,” said Ronel Veksler, Co-founder & CEO of Promise Bio. “The key to addressing this challenge lies in focusing on the right biological data—proteins, the building blocks of our body. It’s not just about protein levels but understanding the changes they undergo after formation. The PROMISE (Protein Modification Integrated Search Engine) platform does exactly that, enabling us to get closer to bringing precision medicine to diseases that currently lack effective tools.”
Key partnerships
The strategic partnerships with the two leading biopharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca and Pfizer) offer more than just financial support. They bring invaluable industry expertise, access to global networks, and collaboration opportunities to integrate Promise Bio’s platform into drug development pipelines. Together, these resources position the company to rapidly advance precision medicine solutions for immune-mediated diseases while building the world’s largest PTM database, a vital resource for future medical breakthroughs.
“Awz is honored to support Promise Bio’s transformative approach to addressing immune-mediated diseases,” said Yaron Ashkenazi, Founder & Managing Partner of Awz, a global investment firm focused on multi-use innovations across deep-tech, medtech, and more. “Awz has deep confidence in Promise Bio’s visionary leadership and distinctive strategy, which we believe are poised to set new standards in the field. Our investment reflects our commitment to backing this transformative team with the potential to advance personalised medicine and make a lasting impact on patient outcomes.”
“At AION Labs, we are committed to fostering innovation that can reshape healthcare,” said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. “Promise Bio’s integration of epiproteomics and AI holds immense promise for transforming treatment approaches in immune-mediated diseases. This first AION seeding track investment aligns with our mission to support breakthrough computational and AI science in our field, and we’re excited to be part of this journey toward impactful change for patients worldwide.”
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