Revalia Bio lands funding to scale up drug testing platform that uses real human organs to reduce downstream trial failures.
US biotech Revalia Bio has raised $14.5 million in seed financing to expand its Human Data Trials platform, a preclinical research approach that uses perfused, functional human organs to generate predictive insights for drug development. Using real human organs not suitable for transplantation, the platform integrates perfused organ data with donor medical histories and digital analytics to enhance translational research.
The company’s pitch is rooted in addressing one of biopharma’s most intractable problems: more than 90 percent of experimental drugs fail before reaching market approval, often due to poor translation from animal or in vitro studies into human biology. By reviving donated but non-transplantable human organs and maintaining them under clinical conditions, Revalia provides drug developers with early data on safety, efficacy, biodistribution and mechanisms of action. This approach, the company argues, can reduce downstream trial failures, development costs, and risks to living patients.
“The old model of drug development is broken – decade-long timelines, 90% failure rates, and billion-dollar costs are no longer sustainable,” said Revalia CEO Greg Tietjen. “We’re building a new paradigm that allows us to transform the loss of one patient into the future of human-centered development – a new model grounded in real human data, not approximations.”
Revalia’s founding team boasts considerable expertise in perfusion technology. Chief exec Tietjen previously led a perfusion science lab at Yale, while chief scientific officer Jenna DiRito holds a PhD in human organ perfusion from the University of Cambridge. DiRito told us that the company was transforming how new medicines are developed by pr on-demand access to real, functional human data.
“In each trial, we perform rigorous testing in donated human organs maintained under clinical conditions,” she said. “These organs act as the Rosetta Stone for our Human Data Stack – a comprehensive framework that unifies donor histories, tissue-level biology, and molecular insights. With this platform, we can study disease mechanisms directly at their source, unlocking actionable insights to advance treatments for cancer, organ failure, and other age-related diseases.”
Since its launch in 2023, New Haven, Connecticut-based Revalia says it has signed two of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies, quadrupled revenue, and demonstrated early proof points for the platform. Collaborations have included development of a human lung cancer model with LifeShare of Oklahoma and extension of kidney viability to four days using perfusion protocols.
Organs are sourced through partnerships with academic medical centers and organ procurement organizations, allowing donations that would not qualify for transplant to be repurposed for research. Families are given the option to contribute to drug discovery, with each organ supporting multiple studies across therapeutic areas.
“We see every donated organ as a legacy,” said Revalia chief medical officer Kourosh Saeb-Parsy. “Our job is to turn that gift into progress-not just for one trial, but for a new opportunity for developing life-saving medicines.”
The funding, co-led by America’s Frontier Fund and Sierra Ventures, brings the total capital raised by Revalia to $19.5 million, and will support scaling its infrastructure, partnerships, and customer base.
“This is about creating a new foundation for medicine, one built on human data, not animal models,” said Sierra’s Ben Yu. “That shift will change not just how we develop treatments, but how we understand biology itself.”
