Japanese bio-AI startup Craif closed a Series D of roughly $33M, lifting lifetime funding to about $88M. The company builds urine-based tests that flag cancer signals early.
Two investors anchored the round: Granite-Integral, the joint venture formed by Granite Asia and Integral Corporation, and Tauns, a leading Japanese diagnostics maker. The package mixed $30.7M in equity with $3.3M in debt. Unreasonable and repeat investor X&KSK also took part.
Craif trains AI to read microRNA in urine, a molecule class that earned its discoverers the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. More than 110,000 tests have been logged so far. Within Japan, the miSignal platform reaches over 2,500 medical sites and 4,700 pharmacies. The company has published 90-plus studies, including two that show early pancreatic cancer detection.
Fresh capital funds a prospective pancreatic cancer study, a new San Diego lab, and a reimbursement-driven US launch. Craif is also pursuing Japanese approval for a software-based medical device aimed at pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Partnerships now span 30 institutions in 15 states.
New chief medical officer Nick Bevins, a board-certified pathologist, will steer the clinical evidence plan. The pitch to payers: a simple urine test tells clinicians who needs a workup and who can wait.
