TARA Biosystems

What TARA Biosystems does

TARA Biosystems is a privately held biotechnology company founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York City. The company's stated mission is to "harness human biology and data to transform cardiac drug discovery," indicating a focus on building human-relevant cardiac tissue models for preclinical drug evaluation rather than on developing its own therapeutic pipeline. With 11–50 employees, TARA operates at the scale of an early commercial-stage life sciences tools/services business.

The company's platform is grounded in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human cardiac tissue, reflecting the deep tissue-engineering expertise of its founding team: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Milica Radisic, Yimu Zhao, and Kacey Ronaldson. This scientific lineage implies TARA sells or licenses functional human heart tissue assays — and the data generated from them — to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies working on cardiovascular efficacy and cardiotoxicity screening. The "data" component of the company's positioning suggests the assays are paired with computational analysis to deliver decision-grade readouts.

TARA has financed its growth through approximately $21.25M in disclosed capital across six rounds between 2015 and 2021, anchored by New York Ventures, Alexandria, the Partnership Fund for New York City, OMX Ventures, and Mérieux Equity Partners. The capital cadence (a $9M round in 2017 and a $10M round in 2020) is consistent with a services/assays business scaling commercial throughput. No pricing model, customer logos, segment mix, or revenue figures are disclosed in the available source material, so the revenue mechanics and go-to-market specifics cannot be characterized beyond the inferred pharma-services channel.

Name

TARA Biosystems

Website

https://tarabiosystems.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TARA Biosystems is a New York-based biotechnology company founded in 2014 that develops human iPSC-derived cardiac tissue models combined with data-driven analysis to support pharmaceutical cardiac drug discovery and preclinical safety assessment.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cardiac Drug Discovery Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

In Vitro Model Systems & Organoid Platforms (iPSC/organoids, microphysiological systems) (HLAAAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Organoids & Organ-on-Chip (regenerative models) (HLAAAGAD), In Vivo Discovery & Translational Models Platforms (humanized models, PK/PD, efficacy) (HLAAAIAK), Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI)

Keywords

• Cardiac drug discovery
• Human cardiac tissue
• Preclinical safety testing
• Cardiac disease modeling
• Biomimetic tissue platforms

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Core offering

TARA Biosystems develops human biology-based cardiac tissue platforms and data analytics to transform cardiac drug discovery. The company leverages stem cell-derived cardiac tissues and biomimetic systems to provide predictive models for evaluating drug safety, efficacy, and disease mechanisms, primarily serving pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers working on cardiovascular therapeutics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Human Cardiac Tissue-Based Drug Discovery Platform

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Ncardia: Ncardia develops iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte assays and cardiac disease models for drug discovery and safety pharmacology. It is the most directly comparable competitor to TARA Biosystems, offering similar iPSC-based cardiac services to pharma customers.
• Axol Bioscience: Axol Bioscience supplies iPSC-derived cell types including cardiomyocytes and provides cardiac assay services. Comparable to TARA in serving pharma's preclinical cardiac safety and efficacy testing needs with human iPSC-based models.

Broad incumbents

• Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics (CDI): A major commercial supplier of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and other cell types used in cardiac drug discovery. CDI is a broader incumbent whose iPSC cardiac products compete with TARA's platform, although it spans multiple tissue types and therapeutic areas.
• Bio-Techne (including Pluriomics assets): Bio-Techne acquired Pluriomics and offers iPSC-derived cardiac cell products and reagents. It is a larger, publicly listed life-science tools company with cardiac-relevant offerings and far greater commercial reach than TARA.

Emerging players

• Emulate: Emulate develops organ-on-chip platforms including cardiac chips that integrate iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes with microfluidics. Comparable to TARA's human-biology approach but with a distinct organ-chip delivery format serving overlapping pharma safety customers.
• Mimetas: Mimetas offers OrganoPlate-based organ-on-chip models including cardiac tissue for drug discovery. Comparable to TARA in providing human-relevant cardiac models for preclinical testing with overlapping pharma customer segments.
• CN Bio: CN Bio develops single- and multi-organ microphysiological systems including cardiac models for drug safety and efficacy. Comparable to TARA in delivering human-relevant preclinical cardiac data to pharma R&D.
• InSphero: InSphero provides 3D microtissue and organoid models for drug discovery, including cardiac microtissues. Comparable to TARA in offering human-derived tissue models to pharma, with a slightly broader organoid focus.

Others

• Valo Health: Valo Health is an AI-driven drug discovery company combining human causal biology with closed-loop chemistry. Comparable as an adjacent/complementary player in human-biology-enabled drug discovery; the two companies' capabilities are increasingly bundled as partners or through acquisition.
• Tenaya Therapeutics: Tenaya Therapeutics integrates iPSC-based cardiac disease modeling with gene therapy development. Comparable to TARA in leveraging iPSC-derived cardiac biology, though Tenaya is focused on internal therapeutic development rather than platform services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tarabiosys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors11 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 TARA Biosystems