Auxilius, a business that helps biotech companies simplify and optimize clinical trial finance administration, said today that it had raised $10 million in Series A funding. Renegade Partners led the investment, which included existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital, as well as several famous angel investors, including Andy Palmer (Koa Labs), Chase Gilbert (Built Technologies), and Sam Whitaker (Sam Whitaker Ventures) (Greenphire). In addition, Renegade Partners' Roseanne Wincek will be joining the board of directors.
Clinical research and development are complicated, outsourced, and poorly managed
Two main trends have affected medication development over the last decade. First, there has been a noticeable shift in where innovation occurs, with new biopharma businesses sponsoring more than 80% of registered clinical studies, up from 55% in 2009. Second, external vendors, such as Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) and a rising number of functional and decentralized service providers, are increasingly being used to handle clinical operations. As a result, a shadow industry is emerging – and increasing – that fledgling biopharma businesses are ill-equipped to manage operationally.
As biotechs move from the lab to the clinic to the initial public offering(IPO), drug development is no longer only about science. Almost a quarter of Phase 3 trials fail due to a lack of funding, not because of the treatment's safety or efficacy. Operational rigor and cost control are critical for clinical trial sponsors, managing milestones to extend the company's runway and assist clinical teams in achieving clinical outcomes.
"Auxilius empowers financial leaders at biopharma companies to make sound business decisions so they can support the important work of their colleagues in clinical development. We provide a powerful toolset that makes it exponentially easier for companies to oversee all of the moving parts – contract terms, change orders, clinical milestones, and financial complexities – to keep trial budgets on track," said Adam Weisman, co-founder and CEO of Auxilius.
Financial Maturity in a Box: Built for Biotechs
Despite spending $54 billion on software and IT, 90% of drug companies still rely on spreadsheets and manual data reconciliation for trial accounting, financial management, risk monitoring, and reporting. Clinical software (CTMS, EDC) is intended to manage clinical data, not assist finance executives. Industry-neutral finance tools, like as accounting software and generic FP&A solutions, on the other hand, were not designed to tackle the complexities of clinical R&D. Auxilius overcomes this operational gap with a SaaS platform that combines the procedure, rigor, and efficiency required to run a successful trial into a single, easy-to-use platform.
The Auxilius SaaS platform unites fragmented clinical, contractual, and financial data to enable businesses to improve basic FP&A and accounting procedures, hold outsourced providers accountable during transformation, and implement audit, compliance, and reporting processes. The platform was designed to meet the demands and accelerate the growth of emerging, scaling, and mature biotech enterprises, giving the same financial and operational rigor as a top 10 pharma company at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.
Keeping an eye on the big picture,
Since last year, Auxilius has been in beta with clinical trial sponsors, handling 15 pre-clinical through Phase 3 programs, 45 vendors, and around $100 million in trial spend. The startup hopes to have 25 clients using the product by the end of the year.
About Auxilius
Auxilius was created with the specific operational, financial, and accounting demands of clinical trials in mind by a team with decades of experience at the interface of finance and healthcare. By replacing laborious clinical business operations and FP&A/accounting processes with easy software that grows and integrates with a company's existing tech stack, the company helps biotechs achieve more. This enables clinical trial firms to control trial expenditures and vendors, manage financial risk, and optimize spending to meet trial objectives. Bain Capital Ventures, Renegade Partners, XYZ Venture Capital, and other renowned angel investors have invested in the company.
