Best Oncology Companies in Houston, United States
The 74 best Oncology companies in Houston, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Marker Therapeutics.
Our analysis of 50 Oncology companies
$16.3b in tracked funding; 86% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Oncology companies in Houston
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Employees | Founder | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marker Therapeutics Developer of T-cell based therapeutics for cancer treatment 42Talent top 15%Funding top 18%News top 47%Tech top 50% All 9 signals ▾Talenttop 15% Fundingtop 18% Newstop 47% Techtop 50% Moattop 50% Marketbottom 43% Growthbottom 40% Globalbottom 32% Fin. healthbottom 29% Talent: Analyst team rating 5/5 Funding: Raised $154M across 23 rounds · 23 rounds over 10 yrs (2.3/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 42/100 | $154M | 10 mo ago | Public | 67 | — | — | — |
| 2 | Bellicum Developer of T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and chronic infectious diseases | $138M | 141 mo ago | Public | 108 | — | — | — |
| 3 | CoRegen Developer of a novel cancer therapy targeting Treg cells | $121M | 11 mo ago | Series C | — | John Thomas CFO | — | — |
| 4 | Tvardi Developer of small molecule based therapeutics for cancer treatment | $83M | 60 mo ago | Series B | 15 | — | — | — |
| 5 | Allterum Developer of drugs for treating leukemia disease | $66M | 53 mo ago | Series A | 2 | — | — | — |
| 6 | Medicenna Therapeutics Developer of interleukin-4 Receptor (IL4R) targeted cytokines for cancer | $54M | 25 mo ago | Public | 1 | — | — | — |
| 7 | ImmunoGenesis Developer of therapeutic solutions for treating tumors | $44M | 27 mo ago | Series C | 14 | Michael Curran Founder | 18 patents Targeted hypoxia‑activated prodrugs and STING agonist combos for cancer immunotherapy | — |
| 8 | DNAtrix Oncolytic virus platform for treating malignant glioma. | $43M | 45 mo ago | Series C | 13 | — | 81 patents Oncolytic adenovirus gene therapies targeting pediatric brain tumors and immune activation | — |
| 9 | Esperance Pharmaceuticals Membrane disrupting peptides to treat different types of cancer. | $42M | 83 mo ago | Deadpooled | 11 | Hector Alila President and Chief Executive Officer | — | — |
| 10 | RadioMedix Developer of targeted radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis and treatment | $40M | 44 mo ago | Series A | 26 | Izabela Tworowska Co-Founder & CSO | 65 patents Automated production of lead‑212 radionuclide for targeted alpha‑particle cancer therapy | — |
| 11 | Sporos Bioventures Developer of therapies for cancer and immune diseases | $38M | 61 mo ago | Series A | — | Peter Feinberg Co-Founder | — | — |
| 12 | March Biosciences Developer of CAR-T cell therapies for malignancies | $33M | 20 mo ago | Series A | — | Max Mamonkin Co-Founder and CSO | — | — |
| 13 | CoRegen Developer of immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer | $27M | 14 mo ago | Series C | — | Steve Gorlin CEO | — | — |
| 14 | Iterion Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics for the treatment of cancer | $25M | 64 mo ago | Series B | 10 | Rahul Aras CEO & President | — | — |
| 15 | Nanospectra Developer of nanoparticle-based cancer treatment for solid tumors | $25M | 39 mo ago | Series B | 9 | — | — | — |
| 16 | Aravive Biologics Developer of antibody inhibitors for camcer therapy | $24M | 115 mo ago | Series B | 5 | — | 39 patents AXL pathway inhibition via decoy receptors and peptides for anti‑metastatic cancer therapy | — |
| 17 | CNS Pharmaceuticals Developer of treatments for primary and metastatic cancers in the brain and central nervous system 42Funding top 23%News top 23%Growth top 25%Talent top 43% All 7 signals ▾Fundingtop 23% Newstop 23% Growthtop 25% Talenttop 43% Techbottom 45% Globalbottom 43% Marketbottom 19% Funding: Raised $22.5M across 1 rounds · 1 rounds over 1 yrs (1.0/yr) News: 6 BI events in 12 mo (of 33 tracked, 7 types) · +200% YoY rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 42/100 | $23M | 1 mo ago | Public | 5 | John Climaco CEO | — | 1 job opening |
| 18 | Invectys Developer of immunotherapeutic cancer treatments targeting HLA‑G antigen | $22M | 20 mo ago | Series A | 25 | Simon Wain-Hobson Co-Founder & CSO | 4 patents Engineered CAR‑T cell immunotherapy targeting HLA‑G antigen | — |
| 19 | Coya Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics for cell therapy and exosome therapy | $20M | 20 mo ago | Public | 6 | — | — | — |
| 20 | Stellanova Therapeutics Developer of cancer therapies for targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts | $16M | 60 mo ago | Series A | 5 | Rosa Hwang Co-Founder | — | — |
| 21 | Cellenkos Developer of T-cell therapeutics to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases | $15M | 55 mo ago | Acquired | 14 | — | 21 patents Regulatory T‑cell based cell therapies for immune modulation and disease treatment | — |
| 22 | 7 Hills Pharma Developing integrin agonists to improve immunotherapies for cancer and genetic diseases | $15M | 25 mo ago | Funding Raised | 9 | Upendra Marathi President & CEO | — | — |
| 23 | Asylia Therapeutics Developer of medicines for cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases | $14M | 14 mo ago | Series A | 4 | Richard Jones Co-Founder | — | — |
| 24 | Memgen Developer of immunotherapies to treat cancer | $12M | 18 mo ago | Series A | 9 | — | 72 patents Oncolytic virus and CD40/TLR‑based immunotherapy platforms for cancer and vaccines | — |
| 25 | Tachyon Developer of therapeutics for cancer | $12M | 39 mo ago | Seed | 5 | Frank Perabo CEO | 8 patents Wireless multiple-access protocols, time synchronization, and spectrum allocation for CDMA systems | — |
| 26 | Diakonos Provider of immunotherapeutics for cancer treatment | $11M | 12 mo ago | Seed | — | Mike Wicks CEO | — | 1 partnership |
| 27 | Bio Developer of therapeutics for the treatment of cancer | $10M | 24 mo ago | Public | 10 | — | — | — |
| 28 | ImmunoMet Therapeutics Biotech targeting cellular metabolism for novel anti-cancer and anti-fibrosis therapies | $10M | 5 mo ago | Series B | 9 | Dean Welsch CEO | — | — |
| 29 | CrossBridge Bio Developer of Antibody-Drug Conjugate therapeutics | $10M | 19 mo ago | Acquired | — | Zhiqiang An Co-Founder | — | — |
| 30 | Moleculin Biotech Small molecule drugs for leukemia and other cancers | $10M | 4 mo ago | Public | 19 19 → 22 (+16%) | — | 37 patents Liposomal formulation and lyophilized delivery of the anticancer agent annamycin. | — |
| 31 | Oncolix Developing targeted therapeutic protein treatment for Ovarian, Breast and other cancers. | $9M | 112 mo ago | Deadpooled | 2 | — | 27 patents Targeted prolactin‑receptor antagonists and cancer‑stem‑cell imaging/eradication therapeutics | — |
| 32 | Stingray Therapeutics Developer of immunotherapeutics for treating cancer | $8M | 15 mo ago | Series A | 6 | Sunil Sharma Co-Founder | — | — |
| 33 | Prana Thoracic Developer of minimally invasive lung tissue excision tool for lung cancer | $6M | 24 mo ago | Series A | 9 | Joanna Nathan Founder & CEO | 27 patents Advanced control and sealing systems for minimally invasive thoracic tissue resection. | — |
| 34 | Signase Small molecule therapeutics for cancer | $6M | 289 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | Victor Levin Founder | 3 patents Small-molecule protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors for therapeutic drug development | — |
| 35 | Greenwich LifeSciences Developer of peptide-based immunotherapy for cancer treatment | $2M | 24 mo ago | Public | 3 | Eric Rothe Founder | 7 patents Immunomodulatory therapies and predictive immune biomarkers for cancer survival improvement | — |
| 36 | FGH BioTech Developing transcription factor modulators for treating obesity and related diseases | $2M | 97 mo ago | Seed | — | Lutfi Abu-Elheiga Founder | — | — |
| 37 | Twister Biotech Developer of gene therapies for rare cancers and autoimmune diseases | $2M | 33 mo ago | Seed | 3 | Lynn Zechiedrich Founder & CEO | — | — |
| 38 | Prana Thoracic Developer of solutions for early intervention in lung cancer | $2M | 15 mo ago | Seed | — | Richard Fischel Co-Founder | 27 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 39 | GreenJay Therapeutics Developer of gene therapies for patients with leukemia | $1M | 36 mo ago | Seed | — | Michael Redman CEO | — | — |
| 40 | Alaunos Therapeutics Developer of adoptive TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors. | $850K | 11 mo ago | Public | 34 | — | — | — |
| 41 | RedVault Biosciences Innovating genomic medicine through technology to improve human health and well-being | $524K | 32 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | Michael Metzker Founder | — | — |
| 42 | Remicalm Multispectral optical imaging platform | $500K | 202 mo ago | Seed | — | David Burns CEO | 34 patents Optical spectroscopy devices for cervical/oral cancer screening and medical device interfaces | — |
| 43 | ReEngage Developer of therapeutics for longevity-related diseases | $365K | 12 mo ago | Seed | — | Gottlieb Co-Founder | — | 1 partnership |
| 44 | Aumenta Biosciences Developer of microbiome-derived cancer therapy platform for multiple diseases | $289K | 49 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | Andrew Y Co-Founde & CEO | — | — |
| 45 | MultiVir Developer of gene therapies to treat cancer | $270K | 95 mo ago | Public | — | Robert Sobol CEO | 45 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 46 | Icell Kealex Therapeutics Developing T cell engager-armed oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumours. | $223K | 72 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | Shautong Song CEO & Founder | — | — |
| 47 | Courier Therapeutics Developer of immunotherapies for treating cancer | $204K | 93 mo ago | Acqui-Hired | 2 | Sarah Hein Co-Founder | — | — |
| 48 | Eisana Tech-enabled device to prevent side effects from cancer treatment | $125K | 52 mo ago | Funding Raised | 1 | Carole Spangler Vaughn Chief Executive Officer | 13 patents Wearable temperature-regulating devices to prevent chemotherapy-induced side effects | 1 launch · 1 award |
| 49 | Salarius Pharma Biopharmaceutical firm pioneering targeted protein inhibition and degradation cancer therapies | $108K | 37 mo ago | Public | 12 12 → 10 (-17%) | — | — | — |
Top 12 Oncology companies in Houston
#1
Public · Houston, Texas · founded 2017 · 5 employees$22.5Mraised▾
Developer of treatments for primary and metastatic cancers in the brain and central nervous system. It offers a pipeline of anti-cancer drug candidates including berubicin that appears to cross the blood brain barrier and kill tumor cells and TPI 287 for glioblastoma multiforme.
- May 2026Series B$22.5M
#2
Public · Houston, Texas · founded 1991 · 67 employees$153.9Mraised▾
Developer of T-cell based therapeutics for cancer treatment. The company's lead product candidates are used against triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The company is also developing peptide vaccines for the treatment purpose.
- Aug 2025Grant (prize money)$1.3M
- Jun 2025Grant (prize money)$1.2M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$2M
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$2M
#3
Series C · Houston, Texas · founded 2003$121.4Mraised▾
Developer of a novel cancer therapy targeting Treg cells. This therapy aims to eradicate cancer by modifying a single gene in regulatory T cells (Tregs), thereby enabling the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells without causing toxicity or inflammation. Pre-clinical trials have shown promising results, and the company is progressing towards human clinical trials. The therapy is designed for outpatient administration, simplifying the treatment process for patients. The technology is based on decades of research in steroid receptor coactivators and is protected by patents.
- Jul 2025Series C$93.4M
- 2024Series B$28M
#4
Public · Houston, Texas · founded 2006 · 19 employees$9.7Mraised▾
Moleculin Biotech is preclinical and clinical-stage company focused on the development of anti-cancer drug candidates and was founded based on the discoveries made at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Its lead product candidate Annamycin, an anthracycline molecule will be entering phase IIb trials for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Its small molecules pipeline also has WP1066 portfolio 3 candidates which are focused on the modulation of tumor cell signaling mechanisms WP1122 that targets the metabolism of tumors. These candidates are in the IND-filing phase for Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, Glioblastoma, and Pancreatic cancer.
- Feb 2026Post IPO$8.3M
- Feb 2018Post IPO$9M
- Dec 2017Grant (prize money)$2M
- Oct 2014Conventional Debt$1.4M
#5
Series B · Houston, Texas · founded 2015 · 9 employees$10.2Mraised▾
Biotech targeting cellular metabolism for novel anti-cancer and anti-fibrosis therapies. The company focuses on developing innovative treatments by leveraging the unique metabolic signatures of cancer and immune cells. Their lead molecule targets Oxidative Phosphorylation, aiming to decrease aberrant cell growth and proliferation in targeted cancer cells and fibrosis. They are developing a library of biguanides with the potential for development as novel treatments for cancer and/or diseases of fibrosis. The company is dedicated to advancing science and improving patient outcomes through targeted therapeutic interventions in oncology and fibrosis. They are a clinical stage company.
- Jan 2026Series B$842.2K
- Mar 2017Series B$5M
- Mar 2016Series A$5.2M
#6
Series C · Houston, Texas · founded 2019$27.4Mraised▾
Developer of immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer. It offers a pipeline of drug candidates based on T regulatory cells and a small molecule inhibitor that blocks the transcriptional activity in cancer cells. It provides drugs for breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer treatment.
- Apr 2025Series C$62.6M
- Jan 2025Series B$20.8M
- Feb 2024Series B$14.5M
- Aug 2022Series B$12.9M
#7
Seed · Houston, Texas · founded 2022$11.4Mraised▾
Provider of immunotherapeutics for cancer treatment. It offers Dendritic Cell Vaccines for Glioblastoma, Pancreatic cancer, Sarcoma, Intratumoral Injection for Bone Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, and CAR T cell therapies for HER 2+ Breast Cancer, and solid tumors.
- Jun 2025Seed$20M
- Aug 2024Seed$11.4M
#8
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2019 · 4 employees$14.5Mraised▾
Developer of medicines for cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases. The company's lead antibody, ASY-77A, enhances antigen presentation by targeting the extracellular form of heat shock protein. Another candidate ASY-77A has produced complete regression of various cancer types including solid tumors such as breast and colon cancer, and blood-related cancers like multiple myeloma.
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$241.4K
- Apr 2022Grant (prize money)$246.5K
- Mar 2021Series A$14.5M
#9
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2022$33.2Mraised▾
Developer of CAR-T cell therapies for malignancies. It offers a ead asset, MB-105 which is designed to treat relapse/refractory T-cell malignancies which include leukemia, lymphoma, and others. It also has MB-107, MB-112, and MB-301 for multiple cancers.
- Oct 2024Series A$28.4M
- Sep 2024Grant (prize money)$1M
- Nov 2023Series A$4.8M
- Sep 2023Series A—
#10
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2010 · 25 employees$22.5Mraised▾
Developer of immunotherapeutic cancer treatments targeting HLA‑G antigen. The company specializes in developing CAR‑T cell therapies and monoclonal antibody treatments that target the HLA‑G immune checkpoint antigen commonly expressed by solid tumors. It operates clinical‑stage programs focused on anti‑HLA‑G and telomerase‑based platforms for restoring anti‑tumor immune function. The lead candidate is an anti‑HLA‑G CAR‑T therapy currently in early clinical trials in solid tumors. The company collaborates with academic and manufacturing institutions to scale process development and manufacturing workflows for clinical use.
- Sep 2024Series A$4M
- Mar 2023Grant (prize money)$301.5K
- Oct 2018Series A$17.1M
- Jul 2017Series A$4.9M
#11
Public · Houston, Texas · founded 2020 · 6 employees$20.4Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics for cell therapy and exosome therapy. The company developed various products such as ALS 001 and EXO 001 for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, FTD 080 and EXO O50 for Frontotemporal Dementia, and AID 912 for Scleroderma.
- Oct 2024Post IPO$10M
- May 2024Post IPO$5M
- Dec 2023Post IPO$26.5M
- May 2022Series A$10.4M
#12
Series A · Houston, Texas · founded 2004 · 9 employees$12Mraised▾
Developer of immunotherapies to treat cancer. The company's lead immunotherapy, MEM-288, is to treat patients with advanced cancers including lung, breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancers. Other candidates include MEM 40 to treat COVID-19.
- Nov 2024Series A$950K
- Jun 2023Series A$625K
- Dec 2021Series A$9.8M
- Jul 2020Seed$575K
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Oncology coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time falling
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Oncology in Houston is moving
A read on the academic research around Oncology in Houston — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 198 papers.
- Houston Methodist95
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston73
- University of Houston32
- Houston Institute for Clinical Research6
- Houston Medical Center2
- Tumor microenvironment3→46
- Immune system1→32
- Cancer research4→25
- Cancer2→11
- Cancer immunotherapy1→9
- Tumor microenvironment3→54
- Cancer research2→34
- Immunotherapy1→21
- Pancreatic cancer1→11
- Breast cancer1→9
- Cancer1→5
- Tumor microenvironment1→4
Common questions
Riya reads income statements for fun. She covers the real money in a sector — revenue, growth, who actually earns — and never met a vague claim she didn't want a number for.