Helsinki-based cancer diagnostics startup MultivisionDx has raised a €1 million pre-seed round to advance its spatial biology platform designed to better match cancer patients with the most effective therapies based on the biology of their disease. The round was led by Antler, with participation from Helsinki University Funds, Kaikarhenni Oy, and a Finnish angel investor. Founded by a team combining cancer specialists, medtech entrepreneurs, and engineers, MultivisionDx has developed a computer-vision-based biomarker discovery technology that has demonstrated superior predictive performance over existing diagnostic criteria in peer-reviewed studies. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, run key clinical validation studies, formalise international partnerships, and support additional public funding applications, as the company moves its first diagnostics from research into routine clinical use.
While personalised cancer care is constantly evolving, the treatment selection process for several cancer types continues to be based on basic tumour staging, with few diagnostic tests available to match patients to the best therapies specifically for their disease. As a result, patients often receive generic treatments that may be ineffective in fighting the cancer, or may lead to severe and life-limiting side effects.
The MultivisionDx scientific team developed a computer vision biomarker discovery platform, and used it to discover novel spatial cancer signatures that outperform currently used diagnostic criteria in predicting how patients will respond to standard therapy. The proof-of-concept study in 650 cancer patients was published in the prestigious journal Cell, and won the Minerva Medix prize for the top biomedical research study in Finland.
“This investment enables us to move from scientific discovery to clinical impact,” says Michael Wittinger, CEO of MultivisionDx. “Our mission is to turn complex biology into actionable diagnostics that guide treatment decisions. With this investment, we will advance our first products into validation. Over the next 18 months, our goal is to demonstrate that spatial biology can move from research to routine diagnostics – and fundamentally improve how cancer therapy decisions are made.”
The investment will be used to accelerate the development of MultivisionDx proprietary diagnostic tests, and will enable the completion of key validation studies, formalizing strategic partnerships with international stakeholders, and raising additional public funding.
Antti Törmänen, Partner at Antler, comments, “It is rare to find a founding team that combines world-class clinical and scientific expertise with the grit and ambition of world-class founders. MultivisionDx has developed a technology that has the potential to completely transform the way cancer is treated around the world and significantly improve patient outcomes in the process. We are delighted to have backed MultivisionDx from inception and have every confidence in their future success.”
MultivisionDx was founded on the ambition to bring a ground-breaking biological discovery into clinical practice. The technology was developed in the lab of Sara Wickström at the University of Helsinki, and the founders quickly realized that the predictive potential of their biomarker discovery platform could transform therapeutic decision-making in the clinic. They secured €680,000 in Research to Business funding from Business Finland to prepare the technology for commercialization in 2022, and founded the company in April 2025 with the aim of turning biological complexity into life-saving clarity in cancer care.
The founding team includes renowned scientific and clinical leaders. Michael Wittinger, CEO, has extensive experience scaling high-growth companies in oncology, diagnostics and regulated healthcare. Karolina Punovuori, Chief Scientific Officer, is an award-winning cancer researcher and scientific communicator who thrives on translating complex science into clinical impact.
Fabian Bertillot, Head of Computational Biology, brings expertise in computational biology and cancer research to build the algorithms in MultivisionDx’s core platform. Janos Lengyel is Head of Engineering with a strong background in software development, while Sara Wickström, Science Advisor, is the current Director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine and group leader at University of Helsinki, and advises the company on scientific matters.
Click to read more funding news.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/multivisiondx-raises-a-e1m-pre-seed/
