Syantra Raises $6.8M in Series A Fundraising

Jan 20, 2022

Calgary, Alberta Today, Alberta-based precision healthcare company Syantra Inc. announced it has completed a $6.8M Series A fundraising.


“This is a major milestone for our company,” states Bob Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer at Syantra. “Capturing the attention and securing funding from the calibre of investors we are proud to call partners is a testament to our groundbreaking technology that is changing the way cancer is detected and treated.”


Included in Syantra’s Series A fundraising is being the first recipient with Plug and Play Alberta. “We’re keen to build a world-class innovation platform in Alberta to continue attracting top technology and investment to the region and support Albertan entrepreneurs in growing the province into a leading innovation hub,” comments Plug and Play’s Founder and CEO, Saeed Amidi. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play is a global innovation platform that connects start- ups with world-leading corporations and venture capital firms, universities and government agencies across multiple industries. Founding partners in Plug and Play Alberta include Alberta Innovates, Innovate Edmonton and Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund.


“There are a lot of exciting things happening in Alberta, and not only are we watching, but we want to be active participants,” Shepherd states. “Securing Series A funding allows us to progress the commercialization of our Syantra DX platform, starting with breast cancer,” continues Shepherd. “This includes scaling up our base lab facility in Calgary to be able to increase our capacity to process up to 2.5 times more blood tests by spring, as well as progressing our clinical study work with targeted cancers in our research pipeline.” Syantra DX | Breast Cancer is Syantra’s flagship product. Its technology brings a new method of detecting breast cancer to market through a suite of biomarkers and proprietary artificial intelligence-generated algorithms to provide a positive or negative result, representing an early entrant into the emerging molecular diagnostic sector.


“It is fantastic to see Syantra’s success in its Series A fundraising. This is the present and future of Alberta’s tech sector: innovative companies creating solutions for the world. Syantra DX | Breast Cancer holds incredible promise for the future of breast cancer screening, and I am excited to see how this made-in-Alberta technology will change the future of breast cancer diagnosis and long-term outcomes,” stated Honourable Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation Doug Schweitzer.


The financing was led by a consortium group of doctors in Canada through Rejuvenation Health which sees the test as an excellent element of its offering to women through its concierge medicine practice. In conjunction with the financing, Dr. Paul Kuzel will join the company’s Board of Directors. “We’re excited about the prospects of Syantra changing the standard of care for women in the battle against breast cancer, and I am personally excited about the opportunity to directly help guide the company’s growth,” commented Dr. Kuzel.


Syantra Inc. recently presented interim clinical study results at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). The ongoing international clinical study, Identify Breast Cancer (IDBC), evaluates the performance of the Syantra DX | Breast Cancer test for the detection of breast cancer among women aged 30 to 75 years. Interim results demonstrate an overall inferred accuracy of 92.2 percent with its whole cohort of women, and among participants aged 30-49, demonstrate an inferred accuracy of 98.5 percent. The latter category is exceedingly encouraging as historically, detection in younger women has led to more severe consequences as traditional methods generally only detect cancers at later stages.


“Our technology will save lives, and to be recognized and supported by investors who share a vision to build a world-class technology that initially makes a major difference in women’s health and ultimately for all is extremely gratifying,” states Shepherd.


Other funders in Syantra to date include Thin Air Labs, Accelerate Fund III, The51 Ventures, Innovate Calgary’s UTI Limited Partnership, and Dubai-based Mena Moonshots.


About Syantra Inc.

Syantra Inc. is a precision healthcare company that’s changing the way cancer detection and treatment are undertaken. Its flagship product, Syantra DX | Breast Cancer, is a screening blood test for the detection of breast cancer that utilizes a suite of biomarkers and proprietary artificial intelligence-generated algorithms to provide a positive or negative result. Syantra DX | Breast Cancer represents an early entrant into the emerging molecular diagnostic sector.


For media inquiries, please contact:

Cathy Kiss

T. +1 780 886 2760

media.inquiries@syantra.com


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