AI startup Research Grid, which helps medical research institutions automate administrative tasks for clinical trials, announced it raised $6.5 million in seed funding. 

Fuel Ventures led the round with participation from Ada Ventures, Arve Capital, Arāya Ventures, Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab, Plug and Play Ventures, Atomico Angels and Ascension Ventures.

WHAT IT DOES

Research Grid is an AI-powered automation engine for admin-free clinical trials. Its two products, TrialEngine and Inclusive, enable customers to manage the entire life cycle of clinical trials, from pretrial to trial close, by automating data management and administrative workflows. 

Inclusive focuses on patient engagement and recruitment. TrialEngine connects with Inclusive, but handles the administrative, reporting and data workflows during a clinical trial.

The company will use the funds to expand its workforce, invest in research and development, and build out its AI technology. Research Grid also plans to expand its marketing and sales functions and grow its presence in Asian and U.S. markets. 

"We are committed to backing the most innovative and disruptive businesses in the country, and our investment into Research Grid reinforces this," Shiv Patel, partner at Fuel Ventures, said in a statement. 

"While AI is making significant waves in drug discovery, clinical trials are still the main barrier to medicine reaching the people who need it, and Research Grid is strategically placed to exploit the urgent demand of automating clinical trials at scale. Its rapid growth has shown that the market is largely green-field, with validation from across the industry in the US and Europe, including big pharma, contract research organizations and sites."

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Other companies in the clinical trial space include Antidote Technologies, a digital patient engagement company that offers a clinical trial patient-recruitment platform with patient screening and support services. 

In July, Antidote announced a partnership with SEQSTER, a multidimensional healthcare data platform. The pair would leverage SEQSTER's operating system to better match patients to clinical trials based on their genomic data, lifestyle factors and medical history.

Another company is oncology-focused digital health company Flatiron Health, which Roche acquired in 2018. 

In May, Flatiron announced a strategic collaboration with the Association of Cancer Care Centers to increase access to clinical trials in the community setting, improve study efficiency and enhance study-related data gathering. 

Clinical trial startup Inato, clinical trial tech company Science 37, tech-enabled clinical trial platform Paradigm and the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) are also players in the space.