Elephas
Elephas Biosciences is a Madison, Wisconsin-based oncology diagnostics company that commercializes the elive ex vivo live tumor fragment platform to predict patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors from standard-of-care core needle biopsies, serving medical oncologists, pharmaceutical R&D, and academic researchers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersMadison, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Elephas does
Elephas Biosciences Corporation is a private, venture-backed oncology diagnostics company founded in 2020 and headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. The company developed the elive Platform (also marketed as the Elephas Live Platform), an ex vivo live tumor fragment profiling system that takes standard-of-care core needle biopsies, slices them into 300-micron live tumor fragments using a proprietary automated cutting instrument (elive Edge), and encapsulates the tissue in a proprietary hydrogel (elive Gel) to preserve the native tumor microenvironment for up to 72 hours. A patented sequential treatment strategy (elive Method) applies control and immune checkpoint inhibitor conditions to the same fragments in phased time points, with cytokine profiling and label-free multiphoton imaging (dOCM/FLIM) used to derive a binary response classifier (the elive index) that has demonstrated 89-93% concordance with clinical benefit in validation cohorts.
Elephas commercializes this platform through three revenue channels sharing the same underlying technology: (1) Elephas Laboratories, a wholly owned clinical lab subsidiary (Elephas Laboratories, LLC) offering the elive Test as a laboratory developed test to medical oncologists, currently limited to select physicians with broader commercial launch targeted for 2026; (2) Pharma Services, providing fee-for-service custom ex vivo profiling studies for pharmaceutical R&D customers to de-risk pipelines and optimize trial design; and (3) Research Services and product sales, offering the elive Edge instrument, elive Gel, base media, transport buffer, and commissioned custom studies to academic and industry research customers. Distribution is hybrid: direct enterprise sales for pharma and large research customers; a company-operated clinical lab for oncologists; an early-access program for select accounts; and international channel partnership via inDNA Life Sciences in India.
The company is led by founder and CEO Maneesh Arora (former COO of Exact Sciences), with a senior team largely drawn from Exact Sciences and other oncology leaders, and is backed by ARCH Venture Partners and Northpond Ventures (board representation), alongside Moore Strategic Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Sands Capital, WARF Ventures, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. Cumulative disclosed funding exceeds $160 million across rounds from 2021 through 2025, with three registered observational clinical trials (ELEPHAS-01, ELEPHAS-02, ELEPHAS-04) enrolling over 600 patients across 10 US sites to generate the prospective evidence supporting clinical adoption.
Elephas firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Elephas
- Legal name
- Elephas Biosciences Corporation
- Website
- https://elephas.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Elephas Biosciences is a Madison, Wisconsin-based oncology diagnostics company that commercializes the elive ex vivo live tumor fragment platform to predict patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors from standard-of-care core needle biopsies, serving medical oncologists, pharmaceutical R&D, and academic researchers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Elephas industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Oncology Diagnostics Platform
- NAICS
- Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing (3391)
- SIC
- In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Specialty & Biomarker Laboratory Services (Immunoassays/Flow/Cytometry) (HLAGAEAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI)
Keywords
Where Elephas is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Madison
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Elephas business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Pharma Services: Fee-for-service offering for pharmaceutical R&D customers to de-risk pipeline decisions, optimize trial design, and identify likely responders using the Elephas Live Platform.
- Research Product Sales (elive Edge, Gel, Base Media, Transport Buffer): Sale or lease of platform components (elive Edge instrument, elive Gel hydrogel, Elephas Base Media, Transport Buffer) to research customers who deploy the platform in their own labs.
- Elephas Labs Clinical Testing (eLIVE Test): Laboratory developed test (LDT) service commercialized through Elephas Laboratories in Madison, WI, providing elive test reports to medical oncologists as a clinical diagnostic service; commercial launch planned for 2026.
- Early Access Program / Custom Commissioned Studies: Partnership program allowing customers to commission custom studies performed in Elephas's own lab, or join an early access program for the elive Test.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
Elephas product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Elephas operates the elive™ Platform, an ex vivo live tumor fragment profiling system that uses live tumor tissue from standard-of-care core needle biopsies to predict immunotherapy response in real time while preserving the native tumor microenvironment. The platform combines a proprietary automated cutting instrument (elive™ Edge), a proprietary hydrogel (elive™ Gel), and a patented sequential treatment strategy (elive™ Method) with cytokine profiling and label-free multiphoton imaging, delivered to medical oncologists via a clinical lab LDT service, to pharma R&D through custom commissioned studies, and to research scientists via platform deployment or component purchase.
Product overview
Elephas offers the elive™ Platform (also referenced as the Elephas Live Platform), a unified ex vivo platform architecture that profiles live tumor tissue from core needle biopsies to predict immunotherapy response in real time. The platform is delivered as a platform-plus-modules architecture: the core elive workflow combines three integrated components — elive™ Edge (an automated cutting instrument that produces 300-micron live tumor fragments), elive™ Gel (a proprietary hydrogel that preserves the tumor microenvironment), and elive™ Method (a sequential treatment and cytokine profiling strategy) — and is augmented by the elive index, a binary cytokine-based classifier. Elephas commercializes this technology through three service channels that share the same underlying platform: Elephas Laboratories (offering the elive™ Test as a laboratory developed test for medical oncologists, with commercial launch planned for 2026), Pharma Services (offering custom studies to biopharma R&D teams for pipeline and trial design), and Research services (for research scientists maintaining and profiling live human tissue). The elive™ Test is currently labeled For Research Use Only and is not for use in diagnostic procedures unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Elephas Live Platform: Ex vivo live tumor profiling platform for real-time immunotherapy response prediction; commercially launched as a laboratory developed test in 2026.
- elive™
- Elephas Labs / Elephas Laboratories
Products and services
- elive™ Platform (Elephas Live Platform) First-in-class ex vivo platform that uses live tumor tissue from standard-of-care core needle biopsies to measure immune response and predict immunotherapy response in real time while preserving the native tumor microenvironment. Sold/deployed as a complete platform to research customers and delivered through Elephas Laboratories LDT and Pharma Services engagements.
- elive™ Edge Fully automated cutting instrument that precisely slices core needle biopsies into uniform 300-micron live tumor fragments at a 20-degree angle in under 10 minutes; sold or leased to research customers deploying the elive platform in their own labs.
- elive™ Gel Proprietary hydrogel matrix that encapsulates live tumor fragments to preserve tissue architecture, retain T cells, and maintain cellular viability and the native tumor microenvironment during ex vivo culture for up to 72 hours; sold as a research consumable.
- elive™ Test Clinical diagnostic test based on the elive platform, delivered to select medical oncologists through Elephas Laboratories as a laboratory developed test. Reports are delivered via a secure, cloud-based web application indicating the likelihood of immunotherapy response for individual patients with solid tumors.
- Pharma Services Custom commissioned ex vivo profiling service for pharmaceutical and biotech R&D teams using the Elephas Live Platform to de-risk pipeline decisions, optimize clinical trial design, and identify likely responders from live tumor biopsies.
- Research Services Service offering for research scientists to maintain and profile live human tissue and measure the dynamic tissue microenvironment in native biological context, with options to deploy the elive platform in their own lab or commission custom studies performed in Elephas's lab.
Quantifiable outcome
- 93% of patients correctly predicted for clinical benefit in validation cohort
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Elephas
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Elephas technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability6 records
Feature6 records
Elephas partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship ai/technology co-development partner, flagship academic research partner, flagship international channel partner, flagship clinical trial partner and core.
- Mithrlflagship ai/technology co-development partnerScientific collaboration combining Elephas's elive ex vivo platform with Mithrl's Scientific Decision Engine (multi-agent AI) for accelerated discovery of novel immunotherapy response signals. The companies co-presented data at the 2026 AACR Annual Meeting, demonstrating integration of functional tumor profiling with AI-driven multi-modal analysis.
- University of Louisvilleflagship academic research partnerResearch partnership announced in February 2026 to evaluate combination therapy of surgical intervention and immunotherapy in colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers through three Investigator-Initiated Trials. University of Louisville will analyze live tumor specimens using the Elephas Live Platform, aiming to advance personalized cancer treatment for advanced-stage solid tumors.
- inDNA Life Sciencesflagship international channel partnerDeployed the Elephas Live platform in Bhubaneswar, India; first cancer patient screened using the platform at inDNA Life Sciences as part of a study to improve treatment matching and response rates in India. Represents Elephas's international commercial channel entry.
- Mayo Clinicflagship clinical trial partnerPartner on ELEPHAS-04 (NCT06349642) observational basket trial covering bladder, colorectal, endometrial, head & neck, kidney, liver, melanoma, NSCLC, TNBC, esophageal, and cervical cancers across metastatic, recurrent, advanced, neoadjuvant, and adjuvant settings. Mayo Clinic also hosts a National Advisory Group member (Pooja Advani).
- Clinical Trial Site NetworkcoreNetwork of hospitals and academic centers (Radiology Associates, Schomedipu, JPSFW, Orlando Health, NY Cancer and Blood Specialists, JRMCC, CARTI, USF/TGH Precision Medicine, among others) providing consented patient specimens across 10+ sites for the ELEPHAS observational clinical trials.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Elephas competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Champions Oncology: Champions Oncology offers ex vivo patient-derived tumor models and related services to biopharma R&D, including functional profiling of tumor response. It competes directly with Elephas's pharma services offering for ex vivo immunotherapy response studies.
- Crown Bioscience: Crown Bioscience provides translational oncology services including ex vivo patient-derived organoid and xenograft models for drug response profiling. It is a direct peer in the pharma services segment of functional tumor profiling.
- Notable Labs: Notable Labs offers functional drug response profiling from patient tumor samples to guide oncology treatment selection, overlapping with Elephas's elive platform in clinical and pharma use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Caris Life Sciences: Caris provides broad molecular profiling (DNA, RNA, protein) plus AI-driven MI Profile and Caris Assure for therapy selection. It is a broad incumbent in oncology treatment-selection diagnostics that competes with Elephas for the same oncology prescribing decision.
- Tempus AI: Tempus offers AI-enabled molecular profiling and a broad data/sequencing platform used by oncologists for therapy selection. It is a broad incumbent in precision oncology that overlaps with Elephas's positioning of elive as a functional complement to genomic profiling.
- Foundation Medicine (Roche): Foundation Medicine provides FoundationOne CDx comprehensive genomic profiling that is widely used to guide immunotherapy and targeted therapy selection. It is a broad incumbent standard-of-care molecular diagnostic against which functional approaches like elive are positioned.
- NeoGenomics: NeoGenomics is a leading oncology reference laboratory offering a broad menu of molecular and immuno-oncology tests. It is a broad incumbent in clinical cancer testing and a potential commercial competitor or partner for elive as an LDT service.
Emerging players
- Personalis: Personalis offers ultra-sensitive molecular profiling (NeXT Personal Dx) and immuno-oncology biomarker services. It is an emerging player in tumor-informed molecular diagnostics with overlap in immunotherapy response prediction use cases.
- Natera: Natera's Signatera tumor-informed ctDNA MRD test and broader oncology portfolio target treatment selection and monitoring. It is an emerging player in oncology diagnostics with overlap in guiding immunotherapy decisions.
Others
- Mithrl: Mithrl is an AI company building a Scientific Decision Engine using multi-agent models. It is a strategic AI/technology partner of Elephas (co-presented at AACR 2026) and an adjacent player in AI-driven immunotherapy discovery.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Elephas social profiles
Digital presenceElephas compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Elephas financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Elephas leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Elephas subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Elephas funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Elephas M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Elephas
What does Elephas do?
Elephas operates the elive™ Platform, an ex vivo live tumor fragment profiling system that uses live tumor tissue from standard-of-care core needle biopsies to predict immunotherapy response in real time while preserving the native tumor microenvironment. The platform combines a proprietary automated cutting instrument (elive™ Edge), a proprietary hydrogel (elive™ Gel), and a patented sequential treatment strategy (elive™ Method) with cytokine profiling and label-free multiphoton imaging, delivered to medical oncologists via a clinical lab LDT service, to pharma R&D through custom commissioned studies, and to research scientists via platform deployment or component purchase.
Is Elephas a public or private company?
Elephas is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Elephas founded?
Elephas was founded in 2020. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Elephas based?
Elephas is headquartered in Madison, United States, in the North America region.
How does Elephas make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Pharma Services are the primary driver. The others are research Product Sales (elive Edge, Gel, Base Media, Transport Buffer), elephas Labs Clinical Testing (eLIVE Test) and early Access Program / Custom Commissioned Studies.
Who are Elephas's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Champions Oncology, Crown Bioscience and Notable Labs. Broad incumbents are Caris Life Sciences, Tempus AI, Foundation Medicine (Roche) and NeoGenomics. Emerging players are Personalis and Natera. Mithrl is listed as an others.
Does Elephas have an API?
No public API is recorded for Elephas.
What industry is Elephas in?
Elephas's product category is Oncology Diagnostics Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAEAB, Specialty & Biomarker Laboratory Services (Immunoassays/Flow/Cytometry), with a secondary code of HLAAAIAI, Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation). Its NAICS code is 3391 and its SIC code is 2835.