ANTWERP, Belgium, July 17th 2026 - Sightera Biosciences, a tech-enabled biotech company and spin-off from the University of Antwerp and Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) using generative AI to design novel small molecules currently active in oncology and fibrosis, today announced the closing of a €3 million pre-seed financing led by Entourage, Anacura and QBIC. Beyond expanding the team, the proceeds will accelerate the expansion of Sightera’s AI-native drug discovery platform as well as pre-clinical asset portfolio, advance its lead molecular glue oncology program toward preclinical candidate selection, and strengthen strategic platform partnerships with pharma and biotech.

What sets Sightera Biosciences apart from many other AI drug discovery companies is how it trains its models. Rather than relying on generic or publicly available datasets, its AI is trained on proprietary data generated directly from patient-derived biological material. This material is obtained from patients with advanced, therapy-resistant or end-staged disease biology, so-called extreme biology, where conventional treatments have failed and the underlying biology has fundamentally rewired.

From these patient samples, Sightera establishes scalable preclinical models, including patient-derived organoids, that preserve these extreme disease biology as it is seen in humans. These models are then used in high-throughput drug screening campaigns to generate rich, dynamic and longitudinal drug-response datasets that capture how patient-derived biology responds to therapies.

These proprietary datasets form the foundation of Sightera’s AI platform, enabling it to design novel small molecules whose biological behavior to patient-derived biology is engineered from day one. Rather than simply generating compounds with attractive chemical properties, Sightera designs molecules to produce the desired biological response in patient-derived systems. This represents a paradigm shift in AI-driven drug discovery, from designing molecules based primarily on specific chemical spaces and basic biochemical read-outs to designing potential medicines based on human disease biology itself. By engineering patient-derived biological responses into every molecule from the very beginning, Sightera aims to overcome one of the major reasons why many AI-designed drug candidates fail during translation to the clinic.

Pieterjan Bouten, Entourage: "At Entourage, we back founders who rethink entire industries from first principles. Sightera doesn’t ask AI to predict biology. It lets biology teach AI. That’s a fundamentally different approach to drug discovery. By learning directly from real patient biology, Sightera can identify promising new molecules in months instead of years. That speed matters. As billions in blockbuster drug revenues approach the patent cliff, pharma urgently needs a faster path to the next generation of medicines. We believe Sightera is built for exactly that moment.”

Reversing the AI drug discovery methodology

Many AI drug discovery platforms focus on generating novel chemistry based on a target of interest and then validating its biological activity on complex disease models. At Sightera, that approach is reversed: the company begins with patient-derived biology captured in complex disease models, generates proprietary therapy-response datasets, and uses those insights to design novel small molecules. By placing human disease biology at the start of the discovery process, the goal is not only to accelerate drug discovery but also to improve the probability of clinical success.

Tech-enabled biotech DNA

The blend of technology and life-sciences expertise that defines Sightera as a techbio company is mirrored in its new shareholder base. Entourage brings deep expertise in AI and technology scaling, while Anacura and QBIC contribute to the life-sciences knowledge and networks needed to support these scientific breakthroughs into clinical practice and, ultimately, to help patients at a societal level.

A first step toward the clinic

The €3 million round is a deliberate first step toward a larger financing that will take SIGHT001 into patients.

Building the team

Part of the proceeds will support further team growth, strengthening both Sightera’s research operations and its capabilities in AI and data. Together, these areas reflect the techbio model at the core of the company.

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ABOUT SIGHTERA BIOSCIENCES

Sightera Biosciences is a tech-enabled biotech company that uses patient-derived biology and generative AI to develop novel small molecules with a current focus on oncology and fibrosis. Sightera is a spin-off from the University of Antwerp and Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), the company is based at the University of Antwerp science park in Niel, Antwerp. Alongside its own internal pipeline, Sightera partners with companies across the pharmaceutical industry.

MEDIA CONTACT

Hendrik Vercammen — CEO, Co-founder

hendrik.vercammen@sightera-biosciences.com

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