Stipple: Epitope-level precision for safer cancer therapies

Stipple emerged from stealth this week with an oversubscribed $100 million series A financing, joining a growing group of biotechs with platforms to systematically identify tumor-specific cell surface epitopes.

Co-founders Aashish Manglik and Aaron Ring founded the company to address a recurring problem in cancer drug development that they had seen firsthand during their training as MD-PhD physician-scientists at Stanford University. As protein engineers and cancer biologists, they saw the same cycle repeat whenever a promising target surfaced in expression datasets: once a target looked compelling, dozens of companies jumped in, often with  similar strategies. That playbook followed validation efficiently, but it raised questions about capital efficiency, strategic differentiation, and patient benefit...