DCVC and Andreessen Horowitz Back Valar Labs

Valar Labs has closed a $22 million Series A financing round led by DCVC and Andreessen Horowitz with support from Pear VC.

Palo Alto-headquartered Valar Labs specializes in using artificial intelligence to develop diagnostic tests that help predict cancer treatment responses and is aiming to improve decision-making for oncologists and patients​.

Valar Labs raised $4 million in seed funding in 2022. Since then, the company has published over a dozen peer-reviewed papers showing that their technology can accurately predict patient outcomes for various cancer treatments and can help choose the best treatments for different types of cancer patients.

The new funding round comes after Valar Labs completed an international study and launched Vesta, an AI-based test that predicts how bladder cancer patients will respond to first-line treatment. The study showed that Vesta’s biomarkers are better at predicting outcomes than traditional clinical methods and work well for all patient groups.

“We see Valar as a leader in an emerging group of TechMed startups that harness AI and the power of data to augment physicians’ capabilities,” said James Hardiman, a general partner at DCVC. “Histology has always been one of the keys to diagnosing cancer, but Valar Labs is showing that there are unexpected depths in the digital slides pathologists review every day. And bladder cancer is only the beginning; we can’t wait to see where they take the technology next.”

Valar Labs was founded to reduce uncertainty in cancer treatment decisions. “Every day, oncologists are faced with challenging decisions for millions of cancer patients to determine which treatment pathway is most likely to be effective for a given patient,” said the founders of Valor Labs in a release statement. “At Valar Labs, our aim is to provide every oncologist and cancer patient around the world with diagnostics that can help inform these critical decisions. Over the last couple of years, we have been able to demonstrate that quantitative AI analysis of H&E- stained tumor histology slides (Hematoxylin stains cell nuclei blue or purple while Eosin stains the cytoplasm, extracellular matrix, and other tissue components pink or red) can better predict outcomes and treatment responses.”

“The introduction of Vesta is a paradigm shift for how we can best serve our bladder cancer patients. Its ability to predict response to BCG treatment – a type of immunotherapy used primarily to treat bladder cancer – is invaluable particularly amidst the current nationwide BCG shortage. This ensures every patient receives personalized and highly effective treatment,” said Dr. Jay Shah, a urologist at Stanford Healthcare.

“Valar Labs could transform how we approach cancer treatment decisions for a large number of patients today,” said Vineeta Agarwala, MD, PhD, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. “By combining readily available tissue histology images with AI-driven insights, Valar is enabling physicians to deliver the precision oncology care that every patient deserves: matching the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time.”

DCVC (Data Collective Venture Capital) has specific investment criteria that focus on deep technology companies addressing significant real-world problems. The San Francisco and Palo Alto-based firm invest in sectors like artificial intelligence, computational biology, climate technology, robotics, cybersecurity, and industrial automation. DCVC seeks out early-stage investments, from pre-seed to Series D, and prefers businesses with strong technological foundations and the potential to reshape industries.

Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) invests in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies, across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, infrastructure, and companies building toward American dynamism. The firm has more than $45 billion in assets under management across multiple funds and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California with additional offices in San Francisco and New York City.