Promise Bio, a startup transforming immune-mediated disease treatment with advanced precision medicine solutions, today announced its emergence from stealth with an $8.3 million seed investment. This funding will accelerate the development of Promise Bio’s computational platform, which uses epiproteomics and artificial intelligence to predict patient treatment responses and support drug research and development.
“Current biological treatments for autoimmune diseases don’t work in all patients, with only 30-40% of patients achieving significant remission. At Promise Bio, our mission is to eliminate the trial-and-error approach by introducing tools for data-driven decisions,” said Ronel Veksler, Co-founder & CEO of Promise Bio. “The key to addressing this challenge lies in focusing on the right biological data—proteins, the building blocks of our body. It’s not just about protein levels but understanding the changes they undergo after formation. The PROMISE (Protein Modification Integrated Search Engine) platform does exactly that, enabling us to get closer to bringing precision medicine to diseases that currently lack effective tools.”
Promise Bio’s innovative platform is rooted in years of foundational research conducted by Dr. Assaf Kacen, Co-Founder & CTO of Promise Bio, in the lab of Prof. Yifat Merbl, Scientific Co-Founder of the company, at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The groundbreaking research into protein modifications and immune response, featured in Nature Biotechnology in 2023, laid the foundation for developing Promise Bio’s computational platform. Dr. Kacen built on this research to create a system that enables broad-scale profiling of dozens of post-translational modifications (PTMs) from mass-spectrometry data without needing customized chemical enrichment or additional lab procedures.
“Determining the change in the protein level or relying on just blood count caused by a complex immune response is like looking at a black-and-white TV screen with poor resolution,” said Dr. Assaf Kacen, Co-Founder & CTO of Promise Bio. “Our platform extracts modifications that occur to the proteins resulting from the disease; those specific changes inform us about aberrations in protein function or regulation. Interpreting it with machine learning approaches is like watching a colored TV with an unparalleled high-resolution view of the underlying biology.”
The $8.3 million seed investment, led by Awz Ventures, and with funding via AION Lab’s venture seeding track from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, provides Promise Bio with crucial financial backing to accelerate the development of its platform. This funding, along a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority, strengthens the company’s ability to scale its cutting-edge technology and expand its research capabilities.
The strategic partnerships with the two leading biopharmaceutical companies offer more than just financial support—they bring invaluable industry expertise, access to global networks, and collaboration opportunities to integrate Promise Bio’s platform into drug development pipelines. Together, these resources position the company to rapidly advance precision medicine solutions for immune-mediated diseases while building the world’s largest PTM database, a vital resource for future medical breakthroughs.
“At AION Labs, we are committed to fostering innovation that can reshape healthcare,” said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. “Promise Bio’s integration of epiproteomics and AI holds immense promise for transforming treatment approaches in immune-mediated diseases. This first AION seeding track investment aligns with our mission to support breakthrough computational and AI science in our field, and we’re excited to be part of this journey toward impactful change for patients worldwide.”
“Awz is honored to support Promise Bio’s transformative approach to addressing immune-mediated diseases,” said Yaron Ashkenazi, Founder & Managing Partner of Awz, a global investment firm focused on multi-use innovations across deep-tech, medtech, and more. “Awz has deep confidence in Promise Bio’s visionary leadership and distinctive strategy, which we believe are poised to set new standards in the field. Our investment reflects our commitment to backing this transformative team with the potential to advance personalized medicine and make a lasting impact on patient outcomes.”
Through the Awz X-Seed Hub in Tel Aviv, Awz’s Active Capital strategy provides Promise Bio with multi-stage investment, hands-on mentorship, strategic partnerships, and preparation for future funding rounds, including the unique joint investment from leading pharmaceutical companies via AION Labs.
