Cori Clinical secures $4M seed to improve clinical trial design and cut delays

Cori Clinical has pulled in $4 million in seed funding to attack one of biotech’s least glamorous bottlenecks: getting clinical trials designed, approved and ready to start. Breega led the round, with Enzo, Heartfelt, Together Ventures and Bynd also taking part.

The company’s pitch is simple enough, even if the problem isn’t. Trial design is scattered across old studies, internal documents, regulatory rules and separate teams. Cori’s AI workspace tries to pull that material into one place and turn an initial brief into a protocol, submission package and operational plan that reflect current guidance from agencies such as the FDA, MHRA and EMA.

Cori calls the result a “living blueprint” for a trial. That means the system is meant to connect design choices with budgets, timelines and operations, while letting teams compare a new proposal with previous experience and outside evidence. The company says that should cut duplicated work, avoid rework and reduce the delays that so often creep into trial setup.

The numbers Cori is hanging its hat on are fairly punchy. Based on its internal modelling, the company estimates average trial set-up costs could fall by at least 33%. In a separate internal evaluation benchmarked against amendments from completed trials, its AI reviewer flagged 82% of protocol errors classified as avoidable.

The company was founded by Jorn Jansen Schoonhoven, who is chief executive, and Patricio Fernández, the CTO. It already works with two of the world’s five largest enterprise clinical research organisations, and its customers also include Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, where the platform supported two trials in neurosurgery and neuro-oncology. The new money will go into delivery capacity, hiring and deeper regulatory and clinical intelligence, as Cori pushes further into CROs and pharmaceutical companies.