Bioptimus, Cancer Research Horizons partner on AI-powered precision medicine
Paris, France-based Bioptimus, a global AI biotech company, has announced a partnership with Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation engine of Cancer Research UK, to advance AI-powered precision medicine.
The agreement allows Bioptimus to access S:CORT (Stratification in COloRectal cancer Trial), one of the most comprehensive multimodal colorectal cancer datasets, including over 1,750 patient profiles. It also adds a new dataset to STELA (Spatial Tissue Embedding Learning Atlas), Bioptimus' global initiative to build the world's largest clinically linked, multimodal tissue atlas.
Assembled from multiple UK patient cohorts, the S:CORT dataset integrates as many as six distinct data modalities per patient. This multimodal resource pairs deep, multi-layered molecular and cellular profiling with comprehensive longitudinal clinical outcomes, capturing both the biological complexity and the long-term therapeutic response of the cohort.
Bioptimus was founded in February 2024, from a team of scientists formerly working at Google DeepMind and Owkin. It began with $35 million in seed funding from a consortium led by Sofinnova Partners with Bpifrance Large Venture and other backers, including Owkin.
As of January 2025, it had raised a further $41 million, led by Cathay Innovation, with participation from Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance through its Large Venture Fund, Andera Partners, Hitachi Ventures, Boom Capital Ventures, Pomifer Capital, Sunrise, and angel entrepreneurs Emmanuel Cassimatis and Thomas Wolf.
The Cancer Research Horizons agreement is Bioptimus' third partnership since STELA launched five months ago. STELA aims to profile 100,000 specimens across a global network of research institutions and clinical partners. The resulting multimodal data infrastructure is intended to be 20 times larger than any existing spatial biology atlas.
Jean-Philippe Vert, CEO and co-founder of Bioptimus, commented: “The S:CORT dataset, with its rich combination of imaging, genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical data, is exactly the kind of resource that allows us to rigorously evaluate and continue the development of M-Optimus to deliver real-world clinical advancements. This is an important advancement in our efforts to build the world’s most advanced AI foundation model for biology.”
He added: “We're grateful to Cancer Research Horizons for their commitment to making this data accessible responsibly, and we look forward to demonstrating how the STELA initiative can help break down the data silos that have long slowed the path from scientific discovery to clinical impact.”
