Undecimal Bio raises $18 million in seed financing to advance its AI-enabled DELiveri platform for siRNA delivery beyond the liver.
Written By: Umesh Hanumante,
M.Pharm (Reg. Affairs)
Reviewed By: Pharmacally Editorial Team
RNA-based medicines can silence genes involved in disease, but their therapeutic potential depends on delivering them to the right cells. Reaching tissues beyond the liver remains a major challenge for small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics. Undecimal Bio, a biotechnology company spun out of Eleven Therapeutics, is seeking to address this limitation with an $18 million oversubscribed seed financing round announced on October 13, 2026.
The company will use the funding to expand DELiveri®, its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled platform for identifying molecular conjugates that can direct RNA medicines to specific cell types. The financing will also support its initial research programmes in renovascular diseases and expansion of its research team.
Why Delivering siRNA Beyond the Liver Matters
siRNA medicines use RNA interference (RNAi), a natural cellular process, to reduce the production of selected proteins. By targeting messenger RNA carrying instructions for a disease-associated protein, these therapies can potentially suppress specific biological pathways involved in disease.
However, identifying a suitable genetic target is only part of the challenge. A therapeutic must reach the intended tissue, enter the relevant cells and deliver its RNA cargo in a form that enables gene silencing. The liver has become an established target for RNA-based medicines, while delivery to other organs and cell types remains more difficult. This limitation is often described as the “liver trap.”
Technologies that improve delivery beyond the liver could broaden the range of diseases amenable to RNAi treatment. Whether a particular platform can achieve this depends on its delivery efficiency, tissue selectivity, safety and performance across relevant biological systems.
How the DELiveri® Platform Works
According to the company, DELiveri combines large-scale combinatorial screening with AI-driven analysis to identify conjugates capable of transporting siRNA into selected cells.
The platform screens extensive libraries of candidate ligands, which can be linked to therapeutic molecules to help direct them towards target cells. Undecimal describes its approach as using cells as molecular detection systems to identify productive delivery at single-molecule resolution. The resulting high-throughput data are analysed using AI systems to identify relationships between molecular structure and delivery performance, helping researchers select candidates for further investigation.
Undecimal says the platform has been validated in vivo. However, the launch announcement does not provide detailed experimental results, quantitative delivery-efficiency data or evidence of clinical benefit in humans. The extent to which the platform can consistently deliver siRNA to specific extrahepatic tissues therefore remains to be established through further data.
Initial Focus on Renovascular Diseases
Undecimal is initially applying DELiveri to renovascular diseases, a group of conditions involving the blood vessels supplying the kidneys. Depending on the underlying condition, impaired renal blood flow can contribute to kidney dysfunction and difficult-to-control hypertension.
The company aims to investigate whether targeted siRNA delivery can suppress disease-associated pathways relevant to these conditions. However, the announcement does not identify a specific lead drug candidate, molecular target or clinical development timeline. The programme should therefore be viewed as an early research effort rather than evidence of an emerging treatment.
Funding and Research Collaborations
The $18 million seed round was co-led by 4BIO Capital and IQ Capital, with participation from Verve Ventures, Harel Tech, Entrée Capital, Kerna Ventures and Saras Capital.
The proceeds will support further development of DELiveri, advancement of the company’s renovascular programmes and team expansion. Undecimal also reports several research collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, although the partners and project details have not been disclosed.
The company’s laboratories are based at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Its board includes representatives of 4BIO Capital, IQ Capital and Harel Technologies, alongside co-founders Dr. Yaniv Erlich, the company’s chief executive officer, and Shaul Ilan. Verve Ventures joins the board as an observer.
What Comes Next for Extrahepatic siRNA Delivery?
Undecimal’s launch highlights a persistent challenge in RNA therapeutics: gene-silencing activity alone is insufficient if a medicine cannot reach its intended cells. Its financing provides resources to develop a platform designed to address that delivery barrier, but the investment does not establish that the approach will translate into effective therapies.
The key evidence to watch will include quantitative preclinical delivery data, confirmation of tissue and cell selectivity, safety findings and reproducibility across relevant models. Progress towards clinical testing will provide a further measure of the platform’s development.
Until such evidence is available, DELiveri should be regarded as a developing delivery technology with potential, rather than a clinically proven solution for diseases beyond the liver.
Reference
Undecimal Bio launches with $18 million oversubscribed Seed financing to address ‘liver trap’ in siRNA therapeutic delivery, Undecimal Bio, 13 October 2026
About the Writer
Umesh Hanumante (M.Pharm) (LinkedIn) is a pharmacy professional and healthcare writer with a background in Regulatory Affairs, pharmaceutical innovation, and clinical research. He has around two years of industry experience as an Executive PMT at Troikaa Pharmaceuticals Ltd and qualified GPAT 2024. His areas of interest include regulatory compliance, dossier preparation, clinical trials, emerging therapies, and advancements in the global pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.