MultivisionDx Secures €1M to Transform Cancer Treatment with AI

MultivisionDx, a Helsinki-based startup, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding to develop an innovative artificial intelligence platform aimed at enhancing cancer treatment. The funding round was led by Antler and included contributions from Helsinki University Funds, Kaikarhenni Oy, and a Finnish angel investor. This financial boost will enable the company to advance its diagnostic tests, conduct validation studies, and establish partnerships with international hospitals and research institutions.

Innovating Cancer Diagnostics

Current cancer treatments often rely on generic therapies tailored to basic tumour staging, which can result in ineffective outcomes or severe side effects for patients. MultivisionDx seeks to address this issue through its AI spatial biology platform, which analyzes tumour biopsies to create individualized “cancer fingerprints.” These fingerprints can predict patient responses to treatments with greater accuracy than conventional methods.

Founded in April 2025 by a team of cancer researchers and medtech experts, including CEO Michael Wittinger and Chief Scientific Officer Karolina Punovuori, the company emerged from academic research at the University of Helsinki. Punovuori explained, “The technology originated from academic research interests. When we developed the image analysis platform and saw early data indicating that we could identify patients at high risk of therapy failure, we realized this technology could be adapted for clinical use to guide therapeutic decision-making.”

The company’s journey began after their lab discovered predictive spatial biomarkers, which led to securing €680,000 in funding from Business Finland in 2022 to commercialize their findings.

A Comprehensive Approach to Tumour Analysis

MultivisionDx’s platform employs advanced computer vision techniques to identify “spatial cancer signatures” from multiplexed biopsy images. By integrating biological and tissue-structural features, the platform has demonstrated superior predictive capabilities, validated in a study involving 650 patients published in the journal Cell.

Punovuori elaborated on the platform’s functionality: “Our biomarker discovery platform analyzes detailed images of tumour biopsy tissue, examining protein expression, cellular sizes and shapes, spatial cellular arrangements, and microenvironment composition for hundreds of patients simultaneously. This information helps us identify novel cancer signatures that can predict treatment responses more effectively than current diagnostic criteria.”

She further emphasized that unlike existing image-based tools, which primarily automate processes performed by pathologists, MultivisionDx’s tests provide actionable biological information about each patient’s unique tumour. This allows clinicians to tailor treatment strategies, maximizing therapy efficacy while minimizing side effects from unnecessary or ineffective treatments.

The founding team is committed to diversity, with members representing five nationalities. Of the five founders, two are women, and four hold PhDs. Punovuori reflected on her experience as a woman in tech, saying, “The transition from academia to entrepreneurship has been exciting and challenging, offering significant opportunities for personal and professional growth. My advice is that if you think you have what it takes, you will only find out if you give it a try.”

Looking ahead, Wittinger stated, “Over the next 18 months, our goal is to demonstrate that spatial biology can transition from research to routine diagnostics, fundamentally improving how cancer therapy decisions are made.”

Antti Törmänen, Partner at Antler, praised the founding team for their unique blend of clinical and scientific expertise, noting, “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 transform the way cancer is treated globally while significantly improving patient outcomes.”