Morressier, the platform accelerating scientific breakthroughs by making the newest research findings accessible and discoverable, today announced a €4 million funding round led by Cherry Ventures. The fresh capital will allow the Berlin-based startup to rapidly grow its early-stage research platform and bring its end-to-end analytics to the entire scientific ecosystem at scale. Morresier was founded in 2014. Existing investors like Redalpine also contributed to this latest funding round.
Scientists begin their research with an idea and spend months or years gathering initial data, discussing their observations, and presenting their preliminary findings at conferences. This entire process takes place offline, hidden within the walls of universities or conference halls. Without knowing what’s happening in science right now, researchers may be unaware they’re working on the same topics as others or using outdated findings as the foundation of their research, dramatically slowing down progress in science.
Sami Benchekroun, Morressier Co-founder and CEO, said: “For too long research has taken place behind closed doors, with only a tiny fraction of the data that is generated along the way being made accessible to the rest of the world. At Morressier we aim to open up and track science from idea to paper, connecting every step of the research process along the way. We’re very excited to have such bold, energetic and experienced investors on board to work with us towards this goal.”
Morressier brings all players from industry, universities, scientific institutions and conferences together to facilitate the exchange of early-stage research and foster a global dialogue around pre-published data. Researchers have already openly shared over 140,000 previously hidden research findings, including posters, presentations, videos, images and metadata on the platform. On the basis of this research, Morressier is the first company to provide analytics on trending scientific topics as they happen and offer institutions and researchers interaction data and information on the reach of research.
Filip Dames, founding partner of Cherry Ventures, commented: “There’s a dramatic change happening in science and we believe Morressier is the right company to spearhead this movement. By gaining access to unique pre-published research from top universities and scientific institutions Morressier can determine trends and signals in science at a far earlier stage than ever before, giving the company a defensible edge in the multi-billion dollar R&D industry.”
Rino Montiel, Morressier Co-founder and CTO, stated: “Enabling the sharing of previously hidden early scientific findings allows us to quickly move towards making the entire research lifecycle digital, open, connected, and data-driven. Our research analytics and search technology will allow all parts of the research ecosystem to monitor science as it happens and easily discover the findings that are most relevant to them.”
Morressier will use the funding to bring engineering talent on board and to further invest in machine learning to uncover cross-disciplinary connections between scientific content. As a next step, Morressier will continue to build out its research analytics product in partnership with pharma companies and boost the visibility of early-stage research in collaboration with universities and scientific institutions.