Swiss biotech startup FluoSphera has raised €1.23 million (CHF 1.15 million) to expand its human-based preclinical testing platform, as the pharmaceutical industry looks for alternatives to animal models that better predict clinical outcomes.

The funding round was led by Soulmates Ventures and a Swiss business angel, with participation from IndieBio New York. The company said the capital will be used to scale commercial collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and CROs, grow its business development team, and expand its AI and automation capabilities for large-scale imaging analysis.

Drug development remains slow, expensive and high risk. Industry estimates suggest it takes 10 to 15 years and up to $3 billion to bring a new drug to market, with more than 90% of candidates failing during clinical development. Failure rates are even higher in oncology, where fewer than 5% of programmes reach approval. Many late-stage failures are linked to preclinical models that do not accurately reflect human biology, particularly when it comes to systemic toxicity and organ interactions.

FluoSphera is aiming to address this gap with a multiplexed in vitro platform designed to test drug candidates in a more human-relevant way. Rather than relying on 2D cell cultures or single-organ systems, the company’s patented approach combines up to six or seven human tissue models in a single well. Each tissue type is tracked independently using fluorescent coding, allowing researchers to observe organ interactions and assess both efficacy and safety in one experiment.

The company said this approach enables earlier identification of promising drug candidates and earlier detection of toxicity, before compounds progress to animal studies or human trials. This is particularly relevant as regulators, including FDA, continue to encourage the use of non-animal testing methods through frameworks such as the Modernization Act 3.0, which supports the validation of new approach methodologies for preclinical research.

FluoSphera is already working with biotech and pharmaceutical companies, with growing use of its platform in antibody-drug conjugate testing. It also collaborates with Revvity in the area of high-throughput screening. According to the company, earlier and more predictive testing can reduce development risk and cut both clinical costs and time to market.

Clélia Bourgoint, ceo and co-founder of FluoSphera, said: “We’re building the next generation of preclinical tools, not just to get new medicine faster to market and at a lower cost, but also to enhance the quality of drug discovery processes. By improving human relevance and reducing reliance on animal models, we help our partners bring safer, more effective treatments to patients faster.”

Investors said the technology aligns with a broader industry shift away from animal testing and towards human-based models. Hynek Sochor, founder and managing partner at Soulmates Ventures, said: “As the pharmaceutical industry transitions away from animal testing, the need for reliable human-relevant models is immense. FluoSphera is opening a multi-billion-dollar opportunity by giving drug developers the means to innovate faster, safer, and more ethically.”

With the new funding, FluoSphera plans to expand its presence in the US and EU, while taking early steps towards the Asian market. Over the longer term, the company aims to position its platform as a standard tool for systemic in vitro testing across pharma, biotech and academic research, with potential applications in precision medicine by enabling drug testing across different population subgroups.