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US biotech company Guardant Health (Nasdaq: GH) has acquired Israeli precise liquid biopsy company MetaSight Diagnostics for an immediate payment of $59 million and an additional $90 million in milestone payments. The acquisition was revealed in Guardant Health’s fourth quarter results. The milestone payments include receiving regulatory approvals and sales thresholds. The company has developed tests for accurate early diagnosis of cancer that could cost only a few dollars.
MetaSight was founded by Prof. Tomer Shlomi from the Technion together with aMoon Fund as part of the aMoon Velocity program. The company uses multiomics technologies, to analyze cells using different approaches, and combining information with AI, to diagnose colon cancer and metabolic disorders in liver function. The technology is in the clinical trial stage.
The company developed the technology based on the Maccabi Health Fund database.
The exit is modest but provides fast and handsome returns for aMoon.. MetaSight was founded in 2020 and has raised $20 million to date. Among its investors are the US fund ARC and Saban Ventures. The company has offices in Rehovot that will become Guardant’s first development site in Israel.
Dr. Yaron Daniely, who leads the aMoon Velocity program, tells “Globes,” “Guardant is a leading company in the field of cancer diagnosis using advanced methods. Their market value is about $13.7 billion and they recorded revenue of about a billion dollars this year.”
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How did the relationship with the company come about?
“Guardant recognized the company’s advantages after we presented our tests at conferences that enable rapid diagnosis at prices of a few dollars per test. They mentioned in their conference call that they had reviewed dozens of companies in the field and chose our technology from them.”
“We also chose them,” adds Dr. Daniely, “We received inquiries from several companies. With Guardant, we found common ground. The company’s cofounders and co-CEOs Helmy Eltoukhy and AmirAli Talasaz, are former Iranians, so there was a cultural connection between us. They founded the company in 2012 and still operate it with an entrepreneurial approach. They greatly value the company’s employees in Israel, and since the acquisition, they have hired employees and expanded the laboratory. This is their first development center not only in Israel, but this is the first time they have outside the US.”
However, Danieli says with a smile: “That doesn’t mean that the negotiations were easy.”
How was the company founded?
“Prof. Shlomi approached us after developing a method to significantly reduce the cost and speed up diagnostics using a mass spectrometer. This method allowed us to diagnose samples at very high resolutions. We teamed up with Maccabi and created a database of nearly a million samples coded using the MetaSight method. Based on this, we developed the colon cancer test.
“The test is about two to three years away from completing clinical trials, and if these are successful, then the additional amount will be paid in the deal.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 21, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
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