Biotechnology company Cyclana Bio has announced it has raised £5 million in a pre-seed funding round to advance its pioneering tissue-level approach to women’s health, beginning with the development of new treatments for endometriosis.
The investment round was co-led by NfX and Eka VC, with participation from Cocoa VC, Wilbe, and a number of angel investors. The funding will be used to further develop Cyclana Bio’s disease modelling platform, which aims to redefine therapeutic discovery by focusing on how diseases behave at the tissue level, rather than solely at the cellular scale.
Endometriosis is a chronic and often painful condition affecting one in ten women globally. Despite its prevalence, its underlying biology remains poorly understood, leaving many women without effective treatment options. Cyclana Bio is addressing this gap by developing physiologically relevant models that use AI-driven multi-scale data integration to identify new, druggable targets and improve treatment outcomes.
The company’s research has demonstrated that extracellular matrix (ECM) dysregulation plays a central role in endometriosis, contributing to inflammation and loss of tissue function. Traditional drug discovery approaches have largely focused on intracellular mechanisms, often overlooking how cells interact with the ECM — a limitation that Cyclana Bio aims to overcome.
Cyclana Bio’s scientists are developing whole tissue models of endometriosis, using menstrual fluid samples donated through an observational clinical trial, alongside laboratory-based modelling. These efforts are designed to identify early biomarkers and discover novel therapeutic targets. While its initial focus is on endometriosis, the company’s broader platform could also be applied to other chronic inflammatory diseases with similar tissue-level mechanisms.
Dr. Léa Wenger, CEO and co-founder of Cyclana Bio, said:
“Our mission at Cyclana is not just to close the gender health gap but propel women to the forefront of drug discovery. We are redefining how therapies are developed, starting with the basic science, by zooming out and studying disease at the level where it truly emerges: the tissue itself,” said Dr. Léa Wenger, CEO and co-founder of Cyclana Bio. “By raising venture capital as our first source of financing, we are building a model with the consumer, the patient, at the centre. We now have not only the privilege but also the responsibility to generate the best pipeline to bring new treatments to the clinic.”
Professor Kevin Chalut, CSO and co-founder of Cyclana Bio, added:
“Our goal is not just to develop new treatments, but to change the framework of biomedical discovery itself,” Prof. Kevin Chalut, CSO and Co-Founder, Cyclana Bio, added. “By starting with women’s health, we’re addressing one of the greatest unmet needs in medicine. In doing so, we will not only cure a debilitating disease many women suffer from, we will also set the stage for a broader transformation in how we understand and treat chronic disease.”
The company’s approach represents a shift in the way drug discovery is undertaken in women’s health, focusing on disease at its biological root to create more effective and targeted treatments.
