Australian clinical-stage biotechnology company Kinoxis Therapeutics has secured A$9.25 million in new capital to advance experimental treatments for dementia-related agitation and pain.

The total includes an A$6.75 million financing round, featuring an A$5 million investment from new investor Main Sequence, alongside continued backing from existing shareholders. Kinoxis has separately received an A$2.5 million CUREator+ Dementia & Cognitive Decline grant funded by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund.

The company will use the financing to advance its portfolio of ALOX15 inhibitors, while the non-dilutive grant will specifically support the development of KNX101, its longer-acting drug candidate for chronic agitation and aggression associated with dementia.

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Main Sequence Joins Kinoxis as New Investor

Main Sequence contributed A$5 million of the A$6.75 million financing and has joined Kinoxis as a new shareholder. The remaining capital came from existing investors, although the company did not identify the individual participants in the latest announcement.

Kinoxis’ existing shareholders include Uniseed, UniSuper, the University of Sydney, Stoic VC and Avicella Capital. The company previously raised A$14.5 million in a Series B round announced in 2024.

As part of the latest investment, Main Sequence healthcare investor Dr Elaine Stead will join the Kinoxis board. Stead has experience across healthcare investment, biotechnology commercialisation and corporate governance.

The investment gives Kinoxis additional resources to continue its clinical-stage programme while developing longer-acting compounds for potential use in dementia and pain treatment.

Targeting ALOX15 in Neurological Conditions

Founded in 2017 as a spinout from the University of Sydney, Kinoxis develops brain-penetrant small-molecule inhibitors targeting ALOX15.

ALOX15 is an intracellular enzyme that Kinoxis believes contributes to neural-circuit disruption, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. The company is investigating whether blocking the enzyme can reduce symptoms associated with dementia-related agitation and pain.

Kinoxis was founded by Professor Michael Kassiou, Professor Michael Bowen and biotechnology executive Hugh Alsop. Bowen serves as chief scientific officer, while Alsop leads the company as chief executive.

The company’s technology remains under clinical and preclinical evaluation, meaning its drug candidates have not yet been approved for commercial use. Their safety and effectiveness must still be demonstrated through clinical trials and regulatory review.

KNX100 Advances Through Phase 2 Trial

Kinoxis’ lead candidate, KNX100, is a rapid, short-acting ALOX15 inhibitor being evaluated in the CARES-X Phase 2 trial in Australia.

The multicentre, randomised and placebo-controlled study is assessing the safety, tolerability and potential effectiveness of KNX100 in people experiencing agitation associated with dementia.

Kinoxis said the trial has passed 50% of its recruitment target and is expected to report topline results in mid-2027. Recruitment has expanded from community-based participants into hospital dementia wards and residential aged-care facilities, giving the study access to people with more advanced dementia and potentially more frequent or severe agitation.

The company is developing KNX100 as a targeted treatment for persistent agitation and as a rapid intervention for acute agitation episodes.

Government Grant Supports KNX101 Development

The A$2.5 million CUREator+ grant will support KNX101, a next-generation, longer-acting ALOX15 inhibitor.

Kinoxis is developing the candidate for chronic agitation and aggression associated with dementia, as well as acute and chronic pain. The company expects to begin the toxicology studies required to support a future Investigational New Drug application by the end of 2026.

CUREator+ provides non-dilutive funding to commercially oriented Australian medical research projects. Funding is released in tranches linked to predetermined development milestones.

The programme is funded through the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund and delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst in partnership with ANDHealth and Dementia Australia. Projects can receive as much as A$5 million across two competitive funding stages.

Preparing for Clinical Data and Partnerships

Kinoxis will now focus on completing recruitment for the CARES-X study, preparing KNX101 for further preclinical testing and advancing additional long-acting ALOX15 inhibitors.

The company is also exploring potential applications in alcohol use disorder, although dementia-related agitation and pain remain the primary areas of development.

With the new financing and grant support, Kinoxis plans to pursue strategic partnerships across neuropsychiatry and pain while preparing for KNX100’s Phase 2 results in 2027. Its progress will ultimately depend on whether its drug candidates can demonstrate acceptable safety and meaningful clinical benefits in controlled studies.

Australian medical education and health technology company Medcast has raised A$5.4 million, approximately US$3.8 million, to expand MedLuma, its AI-enabled clinical knowledge platform for healthcare professionals.

Best Practice Software led the capital raise as part of an existing collaboration with Medcast. The company did not officially classify the financing as a seed, Series A or other named funding stage, making “capital raise” or “investment round” the most accurate description.

The funding will support product development, recruitment across Medcast’s technology and clinical teams, and deeper integration of MedLuma with clinical software used by Australian healthcare professionals.

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Building Clinical AI Around Australian Evidence

MedLuma is designed to help healthcare professionals find answers to clinical questions using Australian guidelines and verified medical sources.

The platform generates evidence-based responses accompanied by citations linking clinicians to the original source material. This allows users to examine the evidence behind an answer instead of relying solely on an AI-generated summary.

Medcast says MedLuma combines automated technical checks with human review and a clinician-led governance model. The platform also keeps Australian health data onshore, reflecting the company’s focus on data sovereignty and locally governed clinical technology.

“AI has enormous potential to improve healthcare by bringing the right information into the right context,” said Medcast founder and CEO Dr Stephen Barnett. “But in clinical care, speed and convenience are not enough. Clinicians need information they can trust, grounded in evidence and Australian practice.”

Integrating MedLuma With Best Practice Software

Best Practice Software provides clinical information and practice-management systems used by healthcare practices and clinicians across Australia.

The investment will support the integration of MedLuma into Best Practice’s software, bringing clinical knowledge and professional education closer to the systems healthcare professionals already use during their daily work.

Best Practice told MobiHealthNews that MedLuma is expected to become available to its customers from the end of October 2026. Medcast users will also be able to access their accounts through Best Practice’s practice-management software.

Best Practice CEO Craig Hodges said AI should complement rather than replace clinicians’ professional judgment, experience and patient-centred decision-making.

“Our lead investment in Medcast reflects our confidence in the team, the MedLuma platform and the opportunity to build technology purpose-designed for Australian healthcare,” Hodges said.

He added that integrating the platform into existing clinical workflows could enable MedLuma to reach healthcare professionals at scale.

Funding Structure and Investor Participation

Medcast’s official announcement identified Best Practice Software as the lead investor but did not disclose the complete investor group or the amount contributed by each participant.

Separate industry reporting said Best Practice invested A$1.7 million as the largest single component of the A$5.4 million round. The remainder was reportedly provided by private high-net-worth investors. That report also described the round as oversubscribed and said Medcast is considering a Series A in 2027.

Jessica White, chief technology officer at Best Practice Software, reportedly joined Medcast’s board as part of the transaction.

The capital raise deepens an existing relationship between the two companies rather than establishing a purely financial investment. Medcast brings clinical education, knowledge governance and AI development, while Best Practice provides access to widely used healthcare software and established clinical workflows.

Protecting Clinical Content and Intellectual Property

Medcast says responsible use of medical information is a central part of MedLuma’s development.

The company works directly with guideline publishers and copyright holders, seeking permission to use their material while ensuring that original authors and organisations remain acknowledged.

This approach distinguishes MedLuma from general-purpose AI search products that may retrieve publicly accessible information without establishing formal relationships with the organisations that created it.

“AI-powered search is becoming increasingly easy to build. Medical-grade AI that clinicians can interrogate and trust is much harder,” said Medcast co-founder and Chief Product Officer Justin Lewis.

He described MedLuma’s objective as creating a trusted intelligence layer that connects Australian clinical evidence with the point of care.

From Medical Education to Clinical AI

Founded in Bowral, New South Wales, in 2013 by Barnett and Lewis, Medcast initially focused on medical education and continuing professional development.

The company says it has delivered clinical education and professional development to more than 100,000 registered healthcare professionals. This figure is company-reported.

MedLuma launched in early 2026 with an initial focus on Australian general practice. The platform is designed to reduce the time clinicians spend searching fragmented information sources while helping them remain aligned with current evidence and local standards.

MedLuma also connects clinical questions with continuing professional development activities, extending Medcast’s established education business into AI-supported knowledge access.

The new funding gives Medcast additional resources to scale the platform while embedding it within existing clinical systems. Its progress will depend on whether it can maintain transparent sourcing, clinical oversight and reliable evidence as usage expands across Australian healthcare.

Australian startup Enrola has raised $2.1 million in Seed funding after shifting from an education comparison platform to AI-powered sales software. Purpose Ventures led the round, with existing investors Antler, AfterWork Ventures and Skalata also participating.

The company plans to use the capital to improve its product, hire staff and reach businesses in additional sectors. Its AI agents engage prospective customers, answer questions and qualify leads before passing them to a sales team or helping complete a purchase.

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From Education Comparison to Sales Software

Co-founders Jo Thomas and Yvette Quinby originally built Enrola as an education comparison platform. While developing a tool to follow up with prospective customers, they saw an opportunity to offer the underlying AI sales technology to other businesses.

Enrola subsequently shifted its focus to sales involving purchases that typically require research and multiple questions. Its customers now span sectors including education, insurance, fintech and legal services.

The company says its agents have processed more than 250,000 leads and that it has signed 28 customers. Those figures indicate use of the platform, although Enrola has not disclosed how many of those leads became sales.

Funding Growth Across More Industries

Enrola’s agents are designed to respond to enquiries and continue conversations with prospective buyers. Depending on the customer’s needs, an agent can direct a qualified lead to a human salesperson or complete parts of the sales process itself.

The new funding will help Enrola develop those capabilities for more customer channels and industries. The startup has also appointed David Johnson, previously head of go-to-market automation at UpGuard, as its head of growth.

For Enrola, the next stage is to show how its technology performs as more businesses use it to handle customer enquiries and sales conversations at scale.