London-based startup Cori Clinical, which positions itself as the intelligence layer for clinical trials, has closed a €3.8 million Seed round led by Breega, with participation from Enzo, Heartfelt, Together Ventures and Bynd.
The Round
The capital will be used to expand delivery capacity, support team growth and deepen the regulatory and clinical intelligence in Cori’s platform. The hires include Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Emma Ogburn, who joins from Lindus Health.
Jorn Jansen Schoonhoven, co-founder and CEO of Cori Clinical, said: “Clinical trials are built through a series of interconnected decisions about how a study should be designed and run. Today, much of the knowledge and precedent behind those decisions is scattered across previous trials, siloed teams, internal systems and separate documents. Cori brings that intelligence together into a living blueprint, so teams can make better-informed decisions before avoidable problems become delays, so the science never waits on the process.”
Matthieu Vallin, Partner at Breega, added: “Clinical trial start-up is a critical but often overlooked bottleneck in drug development, with months lost between designing a trial and enrolling the first patient. Cori is bringing the intelligence and connected workflows needed to make that process faster, and we’re excited to back Jorn, Patricio and Emma and the team as they bring this powerful capability to more trials.”
The Problem
Clinical trials still rely on fragmented processes and disconnected sources of information, which makes it hard for teams to apply relevant precedent and judge the wider implications of early design decisions. Getting those decisions wrong is costly, and amended protocols are associated with longer recruitment and overall study durations.
In the company’s words, the delays are frustrating for everyone involved: “CROs trying to run trials effectively and cost-efficiently; sponsors trying to reach ‘first participant in’ as quickly as possible; and, most importantly, patients waiting for new treatments that depend on a trial starting.”
The Platform
Founded in 2025 by Schoonhoven (CEO) and Patricio Fernández (CTO), Cori Clinical creates a living blueprint of a trial from initial idea through execution. Its AI workspace combines the knowledge an organisation has built over years of trial experience with external intelligence from clinical-trial registries, regulatory guidance and public sources, including the FDA, the MHRA and the EMA.
Cori helps clinical teams turn an initial trial brief into a full protocol, submission package and operational plans, built against current regulatory guidance. As new guidance is published, the platform builds it into the workspace and flags the risks and decisions that matter. Teams can test proposed designs against their experience and the wider evidence base, assess options, and link study-design decisions to budgets, timelines and operational plans.
Based on internal modelling using average trial set-up costs, historical modification rates and time to “first participant in”, Cori estimates that its approach could reduce average trial set-up costs by at least 33%.
Traction
Cori Clinical already works with two of the top five enterprise CROs globally. Its customers across the clinical development ecosystem include Erasmus MC, the academic medical centre and university hospital in Rotterdam, where the platform supported two clinical trials in neurosurgery and neuro-oncology.
