Co-founded by Jan Witowski and Krzysztof Geras, Ataraxis emerged from stealth with a $4 million seed round and has ambitious goals to impact half of new cancer cases by 2030. The company positions itself as a frontier AI lab for healthcare, with Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun as an adviser. The AI boom has spurred investment in cancer care startups, with companies like Valar Labs and Manas AI also raising significant funds. Charles Rollet, a senior reporter at TechCrunch, covers these developments and has a background in investigative reporting on the tech industry.
Key takeaways:
- Ataraxis AI is a New York-based startup using AI to predict cancer outcomes and potentially avoid unnecessary chemotherapy.
- The company plans to launch its first commercial test for breast cancer to U.S. oncologists soon, backed by a $20.4 million Series A funding round.
- Ataraxis' AI model, trained on millions of images, is reportedly 30% more accurate than the current standard of care for breast cancer.
- Ataraxis aims to impact at least half of new cancer cases by 2030 and is advised by Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun.