Epigene Labs and the EIC Accelerator: Cancer Data in Liquidation

Public databases hold large numbers of molecular profiles of tumours, and Epigene Labs set out to make them usable for finding new drug targets. Epigene Labs, a Paris start-up with a business office in Boston, built mCUBE, a platform that curates this data with AI so researchers can search it for targets, biomarkers and patient groups.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,495,789 towards a €3.57 million project to develop mCUBE, and the EIC Fund invested an undisclosed amount in November 2023. In December 2025 the company announced 2 million curated profiles. Two months later, a French court opened its judicial liquidation, according to the official BODACC notice.

Where Epigene Labs Stands Today

On 17 March 2026 the BODACC, France's official gazette of company notices, published a judgment of 27 February 2026 opening the judicial liquidation of Epigene Labs, dating its insolvency to 12 February 2026 and appointing a liquidator. In French law, liquidation is the procedure for companies that cannot be saved; its business is wound up and its assets sold. The company's website is still online. Its last news, on 2 December 2025, announced 2 million curated cancer profiles, including more than 600,000 from patients, a 20-fold increase in a year.

The Technology: Curating Cancer Data at Scale

mCUBE collects gene expression and other "omic" data from public repositories such as NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus, standardises it across 21 data elements, from indication to treatment and outcome, and lets researchers search it for targets and biomarkers. Epigene said its curation productivity rose 50-fold in 2025.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The project promised a "multi-omic data driven drug discovery and indication prioritisation platform in oncology". The CORDIS report says that, against a "conventional timeline" of two years to find a new target for an indication, Epigene got it to six months and then three, and cites a first partnership with the Eyquem lab at UCSF on multiple myeloma and a second programme in colorectal and gastric cancer. It names no pharmaceutical partners and reports no contracts or revenue.

1. A working discovery platformDeliveredmCUBE in use for programmes.
2. Faster target discoveryDeliveredThree months claimed.
3. Pharma partnershipsNot shownNone named.
4. A company that continuesMissedLiquidation, February 2026.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

In November 2023 Epigene announced a "significant investment" from the EIC Fund, amount confidential, with its existing investors daphni, XAnge and Majycc Innovation Santé. It said it would use the money to expand its business team in Boston and that it was "on a trajectory towards raising a Series A". No Series A was announced. Its 2023 accounts in the French register data show revenue of zero and a net loss of €937,692.

Why Europe Should Care

Here the EU was both grant-giver and shareholder. The EIC Fund's chair praised the "unique form of financing via the EIC - combining grants and equity" when it invested. Two years later the company is being wound up, and the public has no account of what the EIC Fund's investment is now worth.

The Verdict

Epigene Labs has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and French official notices, linked throughout.