Sightera Biosciences raises €3M pre-seed for AI drug discovery platform

Sightera Biosciences has closed a €3 million pre-seed round to expand its AI-based small-molecule drug discovery work. The Belgian techbio company said the round was led by Entourage, Anacura and QBIC, with valuation, revenue and headcount not disclosed.

Sightera is a spin-off from the University of Antwerp and Antwerp University Hospital, also known as UZA. The company is building what it describes as an AI-native drug discovery platform focused on oncology and fibrosis, two areas where preclinical translation remains a central bottleneck for new therapeutics.

The company’s pitch is that its models are trained on proprietary biological data rather than relying mainly on public or general-purpose datasets. According to Sightera, those data are generated from patient-derived biological samples taken from people with advanced, therapy-resistant disease.

Sightera said it uses those samples to create preclinical models, including organoids, designed to reflect human disease biology. The models are then used to produce large drug-response datasets, which the company says feed its generative AI platform.

Funding to support platform and pipeline work

The new capital will go toward expanding Sightera’s AI-powered discovery platform, building out its preclinical pipeline and moving its lead molecular glue oncology program toward preclinical candidate selection, according to the company.

Molecular glues are a small-molecule modality used to alter protein interactions, including by recruiting disease-relevant proteins for degradation. Sightera did not disclose the target, indication, timeline or experimental results for the lead oncology program.

The company also said it plans to expand its research, AI and data science teams. It did not say how many employees it has now or how many roles it expects to add with the pre-seed financing.

Sightera said it will also strengthen partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. No specific partners, deal structures or economics were named.

Patient-derived data as the differentiator

AI drug discovery companies have often argued that better models can shorten discovery cycles or improve the quality of early candidates. Sightera’s version of that argument centers on the data layer: it says its models are built around biological responses observed in patient-derived systems, rather than chemical properties alone.

That distinction matters if the company can show the approach produces drug candidates that perform better in later preclinical and clinical work. At this stage, Sightera has announced financing and platform development plans, but has not reported a nominated preclinical candidate, clinical program or human data.

The round gives the Antwerp spin-off enough capital to keep building before those proof points are available. For investors and potential pharma partners, the next test will be whether Sightera’s patient-derived datasets create differentiated molecules, rather than another AI discovery workflow with limited disclosed validation.

This story draws on original reporting from Tech.eu.