PredictMe, founded by two professors from Sweden's Linköping University, aims to detect diseases at an early stage through AI-powered analysis of the body's own biological code, known as epigenetics. The company has now successfully closed its first investment round.
"Our goal is to enable the detection of diseases at a very early stage and help shift healthcare from reactive treatment to proactive and personalized care," says co-founder and researcher Maria Lerm.
PredictMe has secured SEK 5 million (approx. €500,000) in a seed funding round, in addition to SEK 8 million in previous grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and Vinnova, to further develop its epigenetic AI platform. The platform analyzes epigenetic markers from a blood sample and aims to provide physicians with indications of multiple diseases within 24 hours.
Epigenetics – The Body's Own Code
PredictMe's technology originates from research in epigenetics and machine learning conducted by the company's founders, Professors Maria Lerm and Mika Gustafsson at Linköping University.
While an individual's genetic makeup remains largely unchanged throughout life, gene activity is continuously influenced by disease, lifestyle, and life events. This field of research is known as epigenetics. Epigenetics can be described as a biological layer of information that, when analyzed correctly, can provide new insights into a person's health status.
PredictMe's AI model analyzes millions of data points and identifies complex biological patterns that may contribute to earlier and more individualized understanding of health and disease.
"Today, we cannot investigate every patient with a cough for lung cancer immediately—it would overwhelm healthcare systems. Our ambition is to provide healthcare professionals with a decision-support tool based on a simple finger-prick blood test, helping identify patients at elevated risk and prioritize further diagnostics. In the long term, this could help more patients receive the right care earlier," says Maria Lerm.
"Epigenetics can be viewed as a code that contains information about our health status. It is extremely complex to analyze and interpret manually, but with explainable AI we can create a key to unlock its meaning. This is still a relatively new field of research, and today we are alone in offering this technology," says co-founder and CTO Mika Gustafsson, Professor of Translational Bioinformatics at Linköping University.
Gustafsson has led the development of what is currently the world's largest AI model for epigenetics. The model has been trained on data from approximately 150,000 individuals and includes around 60 billion data points, primarily derived from European studies.
Closes Funding Round
Entrepreneur and investor Linus Gunnarson joins the company as its first external investor. Gunnarson is the founder and CEO of the global edtech platform Binogi and Chairman of Resolution Games, with extensive experience in building international technology companies.
"As populations age, healthcare must gradually shift from treating disease after it occurs to becoming increasingly preventive and personalized. What makes PredictMe particularly compelling is the combination of world-leading epigenetics research, advanced AI, and the ability to create a broader picture of an individual's health status from a simple blood sample. The technology has the potential to improve diagnostic precision, increase healthcare efficiency, and contribute to better health outcomes for many people," says Linus Gunnarson.
Already on the Market
The capital from the new funding round will be used to further develop the company's platform and accelerate commercial expansion.
PredictMe has already launched its first product, PredictMe Delta — a blood test that measures biological age and health status using DNA methylation analysis and artificial intelligence.
Biological age is an important factor in personalized treatment decisions, for example before cancer therapy or organ transplantation.
"Two people who are both 75 years old can have completely different biological conditions. One may have a biological age corresponding to someone significantly younger, while the other may show signs of accelerated biological aging. This type of information can be crucial when determining the most appropriate treatment options" says Maria Lerm.
About the Founders
Maria Lerm
Maria Lerm is Professor of Medical Microbiology at Linköping University and co-founder and Chief Science Officer of PredictMe. She is internationally recognized for her research in epigenetics and infectious diseases and was awarded the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation's major research grant of SEK 15 million in 2022 to study epigenetic changes associated with COVID-19.
Mika Gustafsson
Mika Gustafsson is Professor of Translational Bioinformatics at Linköping University and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of PredictMe. His research focuses on artificial intelligence and machine learning for the analysis of biological data.
Contact:
Mikael Mahlberg, Head of Communications
mikael.mahlberg@predictme.se
+46765376678