Cancer remains one of humanity’s greatest healthcare challenges. While tremendous advances have been made in oncology over the past decade, a fundamental problem persists: clinicians often have limited visibility into how an individual patient will respond to a specific treatment.
Despite breakthroughs in immunotherapy and precision medicine, treatment decisions frequently rely on population-level data, historical outcomes, and trial-and-error approaches. For patients, this can mean valuable time lost pursuing therapies that may not work for their unique biology.
At Leo Capital, we invest in founders building category-defining companies at the intersection of deep technology and real-world impact. That’s why we’re excited to back Solid IO.
What Makes Solid IO Different
Solid IO’s edge lies in its ability to directly measure tumor and immune responses rather than relying on indirect biomarkers. Using patient-derived samples, the platform delivers highly relevant biological insights through an integrated workflow spanning testing, data generation, and prediction. As more tests are conducted, the company’s proprietary dataset grows, creating a compounding data advantage that strengthens accuracy and defensibility over time.
Founding Team: CEO Noora Hujala brings deep healthcare and commercial expertise, while CSO Dr. Heidi Haikala’s scientific leadership has been instrumental in advancing the underlying research that powers the platform. Lead Scientist Bassel Alsaed brings extensive expertise in biomolecular and cancer research, leading the platform’s scientific development and validation. Together, they have assembled a multidisciplinary team united by a bold mission: eliminating guesswork from Immuno-oncology.
Strategic Fit with Leo Capital
Solid IO aligns closely with Leo Capital’s investment thesis: a deeptech, data-driven platform with strong long-term defensibility built on proprietary biology, data, and infrastructure. Its solution addresses a globally relevant challenge across healthcare and pharma, with significant cross-border scaling potential through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and leading clinical centers in Europe and the US.
Investment Summary
Healthcare is increasingly becoming a global innovation ecosystem.
Some of the most transformative companies are emerging from world-class research institutions outside traditional startup hubs, combining scientific excellence with global commercial ambition.
Solid IO exemplifies this trend. While rooted in Nordic scientific research, the problem they are solving is universal. Every healthcare system, cancer center, and pharmaceutical company faces the challenge of improving treatment precision and accelerating therapeutic innovation.
The company’s vision aligns closely with our belief that the next generation of category-defining healthcare companies will be built around platforms that combine biology, engineering, and AI.
