Oncology Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

Kopra Bio makes genetically engineered viruses that teach your immune system to kill cancer using tech we developed at UCSF. We’re making the next Keytruda ($25B/yr cancer drug blockbuster) starting with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. In the most challenging brain cancer model, we improve survival from 0% with the current FDA approved treatment to 90% with our treatment.

Granza Bio is developing programmable therapeutics for the immune system. Our platform is built on the foundational discovery of immune “superkiller” attack particles — the natural ammunition used by cytotoxic immune cells to deliver potent, localized killing. By re-arming exhausted immune cells with newly programmed ammunition, Granza restores and enhances immune function. This approach enables a new class of treatments with the potential to transform diseases ranging from cancer to autoimmunity.

SynsoryBio is creating next generation, protein therapeutics that sense where they are in the body and only activate at diseased tissue. This technology platform has the potential to expand the therapeutic window of highly potent drugs and apply to many diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders.

Velorum Therapeutics is developing breakthrough medicines by unlocking the biology of heme.

We are developing cancer therapeutics using small molecules that inhibit immune suppression. Our drugs engage the immune system to aggressively fight tumors. Our therapeutic portfolio addresses a range of solid tumors, starting with mesothelioma.

Adventris makes cancer vaccines. Our platform solves the problem of targeting poorly immunogenic oncogenes. Our first "off-the-shelf" vaccine targets KRAS, the most common cancer oncogene. In the long run, we envision a world where every adult receives our pan-cancer vaccines annually – preventing the majority of cancer deaths. If you are interested in learning more about our approach to treat and prevent cancer, please reach out to us at contact@adventris.com

Cell and gene therapy promises to one day cure any disease; Modulari-T’s Platform produces the tools to fulfill that promise. Modulari-T has designed a new family of synthetic genes that can reprogram cells to better sense their environment and modify their behavior accordingly. This can be used to engineer immune cells to efficiently recognize and kill cancer cells or to create stem cells able to regenerate any tissue. Modulari-T looks to expand its technology to reach every area of cell therapy and become the platform of reference for cell engineering.

Your immune system is your body’s best weapon and defense against cancer. It is only when it is overcome that cancer develops into full blown disease. Dendritic cells sit at the helm of the immune system, directing and dictating immune responses. Data has shown dendritic cells are often dysfunctional in cancer patients, and that this dysfunction is a bottleneck for other therapies. Guardian Bio’s approach is focused on creating a dendritic cell-based product which drives anti-tumor activity through activating the killers of the immune system AND training them against multiple cancer targets. We take stem cells from cancer patients, turn them into specific therapeutic dendritic cells specially trained against that patient’s tumor, and re-introduce them back into the body. Our therapeutic dendritic cells revitalize the killers of the immune system and give them the kickstart they need to fight - and win - against cancer.

Eugit Therapeutics targets the issue of non-specific drugs that cause toxicity and clinical trial failures, affecting millions with tissue-specific inflammatory diseases. TAGHOME delivers drugs with precision to diseased tissues using T cell receptors, enhancing safety and improving efficacy. Our initial focus is on the 3.1 million U.S. individuals with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, aiming to initiate clinical trials within two years. Cofounded by George Church (Harvard) and funded by Y Combinator (S22).

Serinus Biosciences is tackling one of the toughest problems in cancer treatment: creating combination therapies to override treatment resistance. We leverage cutting edge technology to design a fully explainable AI platform primed with decades of system biology knowledge. Uniquely powered for biological inference, our AI engine uncovers how cancer cells evolve treatment resistance and identifies molecules to overcome resistance escape routes. We design combinations that are safer, more effective, and can get to patients quickly. Founded by MIT PhDs and supported by a scientific advisory board of top academics from the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber, and UCSD, Serinus is powered by Y Combinator and other top investors to revolutionize precision medicine.

Our compounds disrupt the metabolic and inflammatory triggers in both cancer and quasi-cancerous cells in the tumor microenvironment. By impacting multiple cell types, we are enabling effective, lasting cancer treatments.

REPROSENT is a patient-driven care system that harnesses patients' time to relieve overburdened medical teams. With an app that elevates the role of both patients and their loved ones, REPROSENT helps patients stay on track, capture previously untapped data about their lived experience, and receive timely triage that improves their health outcomes. By making crucial patient information actionable, REPROSENT enables doctors to focus their time on personalized treatment, transforming the way medical care is provided.

Zealth is building remote monitoring software to help hospitals provide automated continuous round-the-clock support to their cancer patients post-discharge. Hospitals are overburdened with no resources to provide care to their chronic patients once they leave the hospital. For instance, in India, there are only 2200 oncologists for 1.38 billion people. Patients travel 100 miles waiting for hours to get few minutes with the doctors. They have no easy means to manage all the toxicities and symptoms they get once they are back home. This leads to 6X lower patient retention, 4X high emergency readmissions, and poor patient outcomes. Zealth bridges this gap through its digital health intervention platform.

Cancer is a genetic disease. We know this from decades of human and veterinary cancer research. Precision medicine and targeted therapies are successfully used to treat humans with cancer. At FidoCure®, we bring this approach to the world of veterinary medicine. FidoCure® empowers veterinarians to offer genetic sequencing and targeted therapies to treat dogs with cancer. We are committed to expanding the veterinary oncology toolbox for both diagnostics and therapeutics. Our veterinary partners have treated thousands of dogs over the past 30 years and work closely with the growing FidoCure® network of over 143 clinics and 180 forward-thinking veterinary oncologists throughout the US. Together, we can combat canine cancer!

Oncobox believes that many late-stage cancer patients are dying prematurely because doctors lack a data-driven tool to help them decide which drugs currently on the market would most effectively fight individual patients’ specific cancers. That’s where Oncobox comes in. Oncobox is low-cost personalized genetic profiling to help doctors decide which drug to use. In a recent study conducted by leading cancer researchers in Europe and Asia on 900 patients with various late-stage cancers, Oncobox increased the effectiveness of targeted therapies from 25% to 64%. How does Oncobox work? Over 150 targeted cancer drugs are currently on the market. But deciding which of these drugs to give to late-stage cancer patients is not a simple task. Cancer doctors are in a race against the clock. They don’t always know which medication will be most effective for their patients. Because these drugs are expensive and typically have significant side effects, they can’t just try them all. Because of these barriers, targeted cancer therapies are effective only 25% of the time, and 70% of patients with late-stage cancers die due to the toxic side effects of ineffective drugs. Oncobox Dx analyses tumor DNA, RNA, and molecular pathways using algorithms to distinguish which molecular targets are the most crucial for individual cases. Doctors receive a clinically actionable report that shows them which drugs are likely to be most effective on the patient. We actively seek partners from pharma, hospitals/clinicians, payers, and genomic centers. Feel free to contact us at hello@oncobox.com. Our team and the scientific advisory board consisting of leading scientists and researchers from UCLA, Stanford, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, Tufts University, and Rutgers University.

Numerion Labs is an AI-native company accelerating the discovery of life-saving medicines through the development and use of cutting-edge machine learning algorithms. The company unites computational chemistry, structural biology, and medicinal chemistry to pioneer the next generation of AI-driven drug discovery platforms.

Notable Labs is building a personalized drug discovery platform to identify treatment options for relapsed and refractory cancer patients — starting with blood cancer — to address the long tail of cancer treatment. We look at a person’s actual cancer cells, test combinations of FDA approved drugs, and see which combinations kill the cancer cells and leave the healthy cells alive. We focus on combinations because cancer is often difficult to target with just one drug and starting with a single drug can lead to resistant clones or relapse. We're building a highly automated lab in Foster City running on our custom software and are currently testing relapsed/refractory cancer patients as well as samples from a variety of pharma/biotech partnerships. https://www.notablelabs.com/careers

Known Medicine combines patient-specific 3D cell culture & AI to translate drugs to clinical success. We receive patient tumors, break them down, make thousands of micro-tumors, and then treat each with different drugs to determine which they will respond best to.