Aqtual

What Aqtual does

Aqtual, Inc. is a privately held precision medicine / diagnostics company headquartered in Hayward, California (31145 San Antonio St.), with an additional operating presence in New York, that has built a proprietary Active Chromatin Cell-Free DNA (cfDNAac) platform. The platform captures circulating chromatin — cell-free DNA fragments largely inaccessible through standard laboratory methods — from a single blood draw, enabling measurement of epigenetics, gene regulation, and transcriptomics at the scale of 200,000+ promoters, 400,000+ enhancers, 50,000+ insulators, 20,000+ silencers, and 1M+ transcription factor binding sites. From this biochemistry-plus-data-science foundation the company is building a catalog of tissue-, disease-, and drug-specific signatures and developing blood-based diagnostics across inflammatory conditions, oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological diseases.

The company's flagship product is the Aqtual RA Therapy Selection Test, a blood-based classifier that predicts rheumatoid arthritis patient response to biologics, JAK inhibitors, and other targeted synthetic DMARDs (b/tsDMARDs). The test is being validated through the prospective PRIMA-102 clinical study (NCT05936970), enrolling 1,300+ patients undergoing therapy change, with interim results presented at ACR 2024, EULAR 2025, and CCR East 2024/2025 and peer-reviewed publication in Arthritis Care & Research (2026). A second pipeline module is a Sarcoma Immunotherapy Response Assay, demonstrated in 30 advanced leiomyosarcoma patients on durvalumab-based therapy (published in npj Precision Oncology 2026; presented at ASCO 2026) under a research collaboration with UHN Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Aqtual is pre-revenue: it has not disclosed commercial pricing, per-test fees, or a commercial sales motion, and its near-term distribution is expected to follow a clinical-laboratory / direct-to-clinician model once the RA test is commercialized. The company has raised $47M cumulatively across a $16M Series A (October 2023, co-led by Genoa Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, and Yu Galaxy) and a $31M oversubscribed Series B (July 2025, with Bold Capital, Bold Longevity Growth Fund, returning investors, and a strategic diagnostics investor). The company is led by co-founders and CEO Diana Abdueva, PhD, and CTO Rich Rava, PhD, alongside a small core team of approximately nine and a KOL advisory board spanning rheumatology, oncology, and reimbursement.

Name

Aqtual

Legal name

Aqtual, Inc.

Website

https://aqtual.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aqtual is a pre-revenue precision diagnostics company that has built a proprietary active chromatin cell-free DNA capture platform to develop blood-based tests for therapy selection in rheumatoid arthritis and immunotherapy response in oncology, serving rheumatologists, oncologists, and healthcare systems across chronic and inflammatory disease areas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Molecular Diagnostics

NAICS

Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (62151), In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing (325413)

SIC

In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835), Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Oncology Diagnostics (tumor profiling, MRD, liquid biopsy) (HLAAALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Epigenomics & Chromatin Profiling Services (HLAGANAF), Immuno-Oncology & Immune Monitoring Biomarkers (TMB, MSI, MRD, immune profiling) (HLAAAMAK)

Keywords

• Cell-free DNA diagnostics
• Liquid biopsy platform
• Companion diagnostics
• Precision medicine testing
• Blood-based biomarkers

Headquarters

HQ city

Hayward

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Pre-commercial / clinical development: Company is pre-revenue; flagship RA therapy selection test is in clinical validation (PRIMA-102) and not yet commercialized. Future revenue model anticipated to be per-test diagnostic fees or laboratory-developed test sales to clinicians/hospitals, but no public commercial pricing or revenue model disclosed.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Aqtual develops a proprietary Active Chromatin Cell-Free DNA (cfDNAac) capture platform that measures epigenetics, gene regulation, and transcriptomics from a single blood draw by capturing circulating chromatin fragments inaccessible to standard laboratory methods. Its flagship commercial product is a blood-based rheumatoid arthritis therapy selection test that predicts patient response to biologics and targeted synthetic DMARDs (TNF inhibitors, JAK inhibitors, abatacept), currently in clinical validation via the PRIMA-102 prospective trial enrolling 1,300+ patients. A pipeline oncology application evaluates immune, stromal, and tumor signals from a single blood sample in advanced leiomyosarcoma patients on durvalumab-based therapy.

Product overview

Aqtual operates a platform-plus-modules architecture rather than a single product. The core asset is the proprietary Active Chromatin Cell-Free DNA (cfDNAac) Platform, which captures circulating chromatin from a single blood draw to measure epigenetics, gene regulation, and transcriptomics and feeds a validated catalog of clinically actionable signatures across multiple therapeutic areas. Built on that platform, Aqtual is commercializing its first flagship module, the Aqtual RA Therapy Selection Test — a blood-based classifier that predicts RA patient response to biologics/JAK inhibitors, with the PRIMA-102 study serving as the underlying clinical-validation classifier. A pipeline module in oncology — the Sarcoma Immunotherapy Response Assay — applies the same platform to leiomyosarcoma and other tumors (presented at ASCO 2026 and published in npj Precision Oncology).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aqtual RA Therapy Selection Test Blood-based companion diagnostic that predicts RA patient response to specific therapies (TNF inhibitors, JAK inhibitors, abatacept and other b/tsDMARDs) by classifying active chromatin cfDNA signatures from a routine blood draw, enabling clinicians to select effective treatments sooner and avoid years of failed therapy. Targeted at rheumatologists and healthcare providers managing chronic RA patients.
• Sarcoma Immunotherapy Response Assay Pipeline oncology application of the active chromatin cfDNA platform that evaluates immune, stromal, and tumor-associated genomic biology in sarcoma patients from a single blood sample; demonstrated in 30 advanced leiomyosarcoma patients on durvalumab-based therapy for predicting checkpoint inhibitor response and resistance. Targeted at oncologists treating advanced leiomyosarcoma and other solid tumors.
• Active Chromatin Cell-Free DNA (cfDNAac) Platform Proprietary biochemistry and data-science platform that captures circulating chromatin (cell-free DNA fragments largely inaccessible to standard lab methods) from a single blood draw to measure epigenetics, gene regulation, and transcriptomics. Underpins Aqtual's disease-specific tests and supports drug-development partnerships with tissue-, disease-, and drug-specific targets across inflammatory conditions, oncology, immunology, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological diseases.

Quantifiable outcome

• Clinical trial enrolling 1,300+ patients for RA therapy response prediction test
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• UHN Princess Margaret Cancer CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration with University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre producing new findings (2026) demonstrating Aqtual's blood-based active chromatin cfDNA platform's ability to evaluate immune, stromal, and tumor-associated biology from a single sample in advanced leiomyosarcoma patients. Findings published in npj Precision Oncology and presented at ASCO 2026.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Natera: Commercial cfDNA-based diagnostics company with Signatera (MRD) and Empower (prenatal). Comparable as a scaled liquid biopsy platform operator using proprietary cfDNA biochemistry across multiple indications, with similar platform-plus-modules architecture to Aqtual.
• Guardant Health: Leading commercial liquid biopsy company with cfDNA-based oncology tests (Guardant360, Reveal). Comparable as a large, established cfDNA platform player expanding into multi-cancer and therapy-selection applications, though primarily oncology-focused versus Aqtual's RA-anchored diagnostics.
• Adaptive Biotechnologies: Immune profiling company with clonoSEQ (MRD) and immune repertoire diagnostics. Comparable to Aqtual's oncology and immunology pipeline modules where immune signal readouts drive therapy response prediction.
• Veracyte: Commercial molecular diagnostics company with genomic tests in oncology and pulmonology (e.g., Afirma, Percepta). Comparable as a multi-indication genomic diagnostics platform commercializing through specialist clinicians and hospital systems, with similar reimbursement-driven GTM motion.
• Exact Sciences: Large commercial molecular diagnostics company (Cologuard, Oncotype) with active expansion into liquid biopsy and multi-cancer detection. Comparable as a blood-based diagnostics platform with multi-indication strategy targeting similar clinician buyer personas.
• NeoGenomics: Oncology-focused clinical lab and molecular diagnostics provider serving oncologists and hospitals. Comparable as a clinical lab operator with molecular diagnostics offerings and enterprise hospital channel for therapy selection.

Direct peers

• Personalis: Genomics company developing cfDNA-based tests for oncology therapy selection and MRD with a focus on enhancing ctDNA signal quality. Highly comparable to Aqtual on technology (proprietary cfDNA capture/biochemistry), target use case (therapy selection), and stage (scaling commercial footprint).
• Augurex Life Sciences: Developer of the 14-3-3η blood-based biomarker for early RA diagnosis and prognosis. Directly comparable to Aqtual's RA franchise as a blood-based RA diagnostic targeting rheumatologists with biomarker-driven therapy guidance.
• Crescendo Bioscience (Myriad Genetics): Markets Vectra DA, a blood-based multi-biomarker disease activity test for rheumatoid arthritis used to guide RA therapy management. Directly comparable to Aqtual's flagship RA therapy selection test in product category (blood-based RA diagnostic), target customer (rheumatologists), and clinical use case (therapy guidance).

Emerging players

• BillionToOne: Series-stage molecular diagnostics company (UNITY prenatal, Northstar liquid biopsy) using proprietary biochemistry for cfDNA-based tests. Comparable to Aqtual as a venture-backed emerging cfDNA diagnostics platform scaling from a single flagship test into multi-indication expansion.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aqtual

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aqtual