Cambridge's CardiaTec Secures £1.4m to combat cardiovascular diseases using AI

AI drug target discovery company CardiaTec, specialising in cardiovascular disease, has secured a £1.4m pre-seed investment led by Laidlaw Scholars Ventures and APEX Ventures.

Cardiovascular diseases have persisted as the world’s leading global cause of death since the 1980s. Yet, despite the rising number of deaths, cardiovascular investment and therapeutic innovation are immensely dwarfed when compared to fields such as oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.

CardiaTec is developing a target discovery platform leveraging AI to make sense of large-scale multiomic cardiovascular data. As opposed to conventional singular omic analysis, CardiaTec’s platform explores relationships at every level of biology to best understand disease development.

The company was co-founded by University of Cambridge graduates Raphael Peralta (CEO) and Thelma Zablocki (COO), with Dr. Namshik Han (CTO), a world-leading academic in AI applications for target and drug discovery.

Dr. Namshik Han commented: “Recent advances in artificial intelligence are generating novel ways to interpret multiomic data. I am excited to lead CardiaTec’s technology strategy to establish a new paradigm for understanding the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases.”

Raphael Peralta said, “After several decades of stagnated investment and innovation, cardiovascular disease is re-emerging with newfound interest, driven not only by the increasing requirements to fulfil the unmet need as it persists as the world-leading cause of death…

“But in the application of AI in being able to drive new and meaningful insights to help meet patients needs. Therefore, CardiaTec finds itself incredibly well placed to help drive innovation forwards within this space, now supported by a great syndicate of investors.”

This raise marks the first investment of Laidlaw Scholars Ventures (LSV), a new Venture Capital fund established by the Laidlaw Foundation to invest in businesses led by Laidlaw Scholars. LSV and APEX Ventures are co-leading the £1.4m round with participation from Crista Galli Ventures, o2h ventures and Cambridge Enterprise.

Niall Santamaria, Chief Investment Officer of LSV, said, “We are delighted to support this exceptional team on their mission to improve patient outcomes by using AI for good.

“Despite the prevalence of cardiovascular ailments, there has been significant under-investment, so we believe these funds will provide CardiaTec with the opportunity to unearth treatments that make a real difference to patients.”