In light of today’s World Cancer Day (4th of February), we’re dedicating an article to deep tech companies in Europe working in the field of utmost importance: cancer therapeutics.
With research and development making increasingly bigger waves across many fields, including healthcare, seeing cancer therapeutics receive notable attention among European deep techs is encouraging. And building innovations that make a real difference in the world is what deep tech companies are all about, aren’t they?
Now, a few statistics. According to the European Patent Office, in 2025, Europe was home to a notable number of oncology-related startups, 1500 to be exact. For a more comparative view, the U.S. had 1325. However, the Office also noted that Europe struggles to scale. While the US sees nearly 40% of its cancer startups reach late-growth stages, only 24% of EU startups do the same, highlighting a significant regional scaling gap.
In this article, we’ll not be deep-diving into the whys of European oncology-related startups struggling to scale, but rather celebrate those European deep techs that are not only confidently making big waves in the sea of cancer therapeutics but are also able to scale. Without further ado, here they are.
1. Sensius
Founded: 2015
Recent funding: €15M, Series A in June 2025
Scale-up edge: Positioning thermotherapy as the fourth pillar of cancer care
Sensius is a Dutch scale-up integrating targeted tumor heating (thermotherapy) into the oncology gold standard. While using heat to heal is an idea known since ancient times, the way Sensius uses it makes this company unique. The scale-up has engineered a system for targeted thermal delivery, concentrating heat precisely on the tumor mass while insulating adjacent healthy tissue from damage. What’s more, Sensius is focusing on head and neck cancers in particular.
Headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and operating in the Erasmus Medical Center’s incubator space, Sensius has a team of about 30 professionals working from several locations across Europe. In June 2025, Sensius launched a study in partnership with the Dutch Cancer Foundation, and roughly 20 clinics are already lined up for an upcoming international Phase II/III trial.
2. Glycanostics
Founded: 2017
Recent funding: €4M, pre-Series A round
Scale-up edge: Engineering a high-precision diagnostic for the early detection of 11 cancer types
A deep tech scale-up from Slovakia, Glycanostics, is on a mission to deliver cost-effective, non-invasive glycan diagnostics for rapid early detection, lowering mortality rates while eliminating the burden of ineffective treatments. Early and accurate cancer diagnostics are a challenge of utmost importance in the field of cancer therapeutics, and recognizing this, Glycanostics has built its company and solution.
Glycanostics’ approach focuses on glycans – complex carbohydrates attached to proteins. Cancer alters these sugar structures very early, and the scale-up’s patented magnetic-bead-based ELISA technology can detect these glycan signatures from a simple blood draw. What makes Glycanostics stand out even more is the fact that its solution is organ-specific and highly affordable compared to DNA sequencing. The company is currently scaling from prostate cancer diagnostics into a portfolio of 11 different cancer types, including lung and breast.
3. Elypta
Founded: 2017
Recent funding: $21M, Series A in June 2022
Scale-up edge: An exceptionally non-invasive approach for early cancer detection
Elypta is a Swedish scale-up engineering metabolism-based liquid biopsies that detect cancer by identifying the unique metabolic signatures tumors shed into the bloodstream at their earliest stages. As the field of cancer detection is dominated by DNA- and protein-based methods, Elypta’s approach stands out.
The Swedish scale-up technology tracks the GAGome – a complete profile of glycosaminoglycans (metabolites) that tumors use to rewire their energy supply. By using machine learning to analyze these metabolic byproducts in urine and blood, it’s possible to detect cancer signals that DNA-based tests might miss.
Elypta recently completed the largest-ever study for kidney cancer recurrence monitoring, which began in 2020 and was conducted across 29 hospitals in the UK, EU, USA, and Canada, and is expanding into multi-cancer early detection.
4. Convert Pharmaceuticals
Founded: 2017
Recent funding: €2.5M grant from the EIC Accelerator in 2024
Scale-up edge: Developing a precision-strike approach to the most treatment-resistant parts of a tumor
Convert Pharmaceuticals is a deep tech scale-up from Belgium that essentially develops a new way to treat solid tumors, which often have “hypoxic” zones (areas with very low oxygen) where standard chemo and radiation fail. Convert Pharma’s lead compound, CP-506, is a prodrug – it remains inactive and non-toxic in healthy, oxygen-rich tissue but becomes active only in the toxic, low-oxygen environment of a tumor. This allows a much higher drug payload to reach the tumor while sparing the patient’s body from traditional systemic side effects.
The Belgian scale-up’s solution is currently in high-stakes clinical trials: it has the potential to revolutionize cancer therapeutics – particularly immunotherapy – and could double the number of long-term survivors. Convert Pharmaceuticals’ treatment is currently undergoing clinical trials at premier medical centers across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain. Early data from the first cohort of patients has already yielded promising results.
5. Asgard Therapeutics
Founded: 2018
Recent funding: €2.5M EIC Transition grant in March 2025
Scale-up edge: Revolutionizing solid tumor treatment with its AT-108 therapy that rewires cancer cells
Founded in Sweden, Asgard Therapeutics is rewiring the identity of cancer cells to turn tumors into their own immune-system triggers. Their lead program, AT-108, is an off-the-shelf gene therapy that rewires cancer cells from the inside and forces them to transform into type-1 dendritic cells (cDC1) – the immune system’s professional scouts. As a result, instead of the immune system failing to recognize the cancer, the cancer is forced to “betray” itself by presenting its own antigens to T cells.
Asgard delivers the best of both worlds – a standardized, off-the-shelf viral vector that triggers a 100% personalized immune response by forcing each patient’s unique tumor to reveal its own specific antigens. The scale-up aims to bring the AT-108 therapy into clinics in Q1 of 2027.
