The application of AI in clinical trials is rapidly reshaping the pharmaceutical development landscape, as biotech companies and contract research organisations grapple with spiralling data complexity and mounting pressure to accelerate drug approvals. Zurich-based Rivia has secured €13 million in Series A funding to scale its agentic data platform, which aims to transform how clinical trial operations teams manage the vast volumes of data generated during modern drug development programmes.
The round, led by European venture capital firm Earlybird through its dedicated health fund, brings Rivia’s total funding to approximately €16 million following a €3 million seed round in 2024. New investor Defiant joined the round alongside returning backers Speedinvest, Amino Collective and Nina Capital. The fresh capital will be deployed to expand Rivia’s teams in Zurich and Boston, and to accelerate the rollout of its suite of embedded AI agents designed to automate clinical trial workflows.
Earlybird Health leads investment in agentic AI for clinical trials
The Series A was led by Earlybird Health, the healthcare-focused arm of pan-European venture firm Earlybird, which manages a dedicated €173 million health fund backing companies that are transforming patient outcomes through technology. The investment underscores growing investor confidence in AI-powered infrastructure for the life sciences sector, particularly platforms that address the operational bottleneck of clinical data management rather than drug discovery alone.
Founded in 2022 by Erik Scalfaro and Tiago Kieliger, Rivia was born from first-hand frustration with the fragmented data landscape in pharmaceutical development. Scalfaro, who spent a decade in the pharma industry, has spoken of clinical operations as a world dominated by manual spreadsheet work — downloading hundreds of Excel files, formatting data, and consolidating information rather than focusing on patient outcomes. Kieliger, previously a cybersecurity engineer for the Swiss defence department, brought deep technical expertise in building secure, scalable data infrastructure.
Rivia’s platform serves as what the company calls a reusable intelligence layer for clinical trials. Its data engine integrates thousands of heterogeneous data files in real time, applies trial-specific scientific logic through a proprietary library of reusable configurations, and feeds harmonised data directly into operational review workflows. The company currently supports 40 clinical trials across Europe and the United States, handling data volumes that have grown over 400 per cent in the past decade.
From data engine to agentic AI in clinical trial operations
On this data foundation, Rivia is now launching a suite of embedded AI agents designed to automate high-impact clinical workflows. The company’s first agent, Spark, converts natural-language queries into publication-grade clinical visualisations instantly, eliminating the manual effort traditionally required to produce trial analytics. Additional agents are being deployed for proactive data quality monitoring and oversight workflows, enabling earlier detection of deviations and intelligent prioritisation of issues across trial sites.
The broader market opportunity is substantial. The global AI in clinical trials market is estimated at approximately $1.5 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $18–20 billion by the end of the next decade, driven by increasing data complexity and regulatory pressure for faster, more efficient trial execution. Rivia’s ambition is to reduce clinical trial costs by up to 50 per cent by replacing manual processes with scalable agentic systems — a proposition that resonates strongly in an industry where the average cost of bringing a new drug to market continues to exceed $2 billion.
The strategic decision to build the data infrastructure layer before deploying AI agents is central to Rivia’s thesis. As co-founder Kieliger has noted, AI and agents can deliver significant value for clinical trials, but the limiting factor remains the underlying data infrastructure. By establishing a robust intelligence layer that aggregates data across sources and models the specific scientific logic behind each trial, Rivia has created the foundation upon which its agentic capabilities can operate with precision and reliability.
With this latest funding, Rivia is well-positioned to capitalise on the accelerating adoption of AI in clinical trials across Europe and the United States. The combination of a proven data platform, embedded AI agents, and backing from specialist healthcare investors suggests the Zurich-based company is building for long-term impact in a sector where efficiency gains translate directly into faster patient access to life-saving therapies.
Summary
- Company: Rivia
- Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
- Founded: 2022
- Round: Series A
- Amount: €13 million ($15 million)
- Lead Investor: Earlybird Health
- Other Investors: Defiant, Speedinvest, Amino Collective, Nina Capital
- Use of Funds: Team expansion in Zurich and Boston, rollout of embedded AI agents for clinical trial workflows