Strategikon

Strategikon is a technology company that provides a cloud-based software platform, Clinical Maestro, designed to optimize the business and financial operations of clinical trials. Founded in 2017 by Anca Copaescu and Paulo Carvalho, the San Francisco-based company aims to replace inefficient manual processes with a streamlined, end-to-end solution for biopharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations (CROs). The company's mission is to accelerate the delivery of new medical treatments by improving the speed and lowering the cost of clinical development.

The founder and CEO, Anca Copaescu, drew inspiration for the company's name from "Strategikon," a 6th-century Byzantine military manual, which influenced her with its emphasis on adapting to the unexpected. Her journey as a serial entrepreneur and her extensive experience in the clinical research industry, including roles at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Icon plc, and PharmaNet Development Group, exposed her to the frustrations and inefficiencies of managing clinical trial outsourcing with generic tools like Excel. This first-hand experience fueled the creation of Clinical Maestro, an integrated platform to address the complex workflows of trial planning, budgeting, vendor selection, and financial management.

Clinical Maestro operates on a SaaS model, serving a global client base that includes biopharmaceutical sponsors and their service provider partners, from small biotechs to large pharmaceutical companies. The platform is composed of several integrated modules—PORTFOLIO, SOURCE, and LEAD—and complementary applications like VISION for vendor management and CORE for service providers. These tools automate processes such as creating budget scenarios, managing requests for proposals (RFPs), tracking contract activities, and overseeing vendor performance. By providing data-driven insights and benchmarks, the platform enables more accurate budgeting, transparent negotiations, and efficient vendor management, ultimately aiming to reduce trial costs and accelerate study start-up times.

Strategikon has secured funding through multiple rounds, including a Series A in April 2021 and an oversubscribed $7 million Series A1 round in February 2024, with investors like Osage Venture Partners, Debiopharm Innovation Fund, HearstLab, and Golden Seeds. The company has also obtained a multi-million dollar growth loan to expand its sales and client support teams to meet rising market demand.

Keywords: clinical trial management, clinical trial outsourcing, R&D procurement, vendor management, clinical trial budgeting, SaaS, biopharmaceutical services, CRO, contract research organization, study start-up, clinical finance, eClinical, trial planning, RFP management, contract management, vendor qualification, Anca Copaescu, Clinical Maestro, life sciences technology, pharmaceutical procurement