Lucis, a Paris-based preventive health startup, closed a $20 million Series A round in late May, led by Singular, with participation from General Catalyst and Y Combinator. The financing came just five months after the company secured $8 million in seed funding.
The timeline stands out in a European market where healthtech companies typically wait 18 to 24 months between funding rounds, according to Dealroom. By the time Lucis reached its Series A, it had scaled to 10,000 users across four countries, all within its first year as an incorporated company.
The velocity suggests investors see something urgent in what Lucis is building: a network of certified labs offering comprehensive blood testing aimed at catching health issues before they become problems. Through partnerships with 450 labs across Europe, the company provides customers with two blood draws annually, testing more than 100 biomarkers that track inflammation, metabolism, hormone levels, and energy indicators.
Results arrive with AI-generated insights and physician reviews, along with personalized recommendations covering nutrition, supplements, sleep patterns, and exercise routines. Since launching, Lucis reports it has processed over one million biomarker tests. Among users who completed six-month follow-ups, the company reports that 75 percent improved at least three biomarkers without pharmaceutical intervention. More than 80 percent chose to retest.
CEO Maxime Berthelot came through the startup track already, having co-founded PixelMe, a URL shortener that Carbon6 acquired in 2021. Before Lucis, he held positions at Gorgias and WeMaintain. Lucis went through Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch, part of the accelerator's expanded four-cohorts-per-year model that launched earlier that year. The batch ran from April through June, culminating in an in-person Demo Day in mid-June.
In its YC profile, Lucis positioned itself as "Function Health for Europe," referencing the U.S. preventive health company that offers similar comprehensive biomarker testing. The comparison isn't accidental. Function has gained traction among American consumers willing to pay for proactive health monitoring, and Lucis is positioning itself to capture similar demand in European markets.
Currently, Lucis operates in France, the UK, Ireland, and Portugal. The company plans to expand into Spain, Germany, and Italy by the end of 2026, according to its Series A announcement. It works with lab partners including Eurofins and Randox and employs a team of 20. The startup partners with physicians to oversee test results.
General Catalyst led the earlier seed round in December, joined by Y Combinator, Kima Ventures, Motier Ventures, Circle.Co, and North South Ventures. The Series A added Singular as lead investor, along with angels including Céline Lazorthes, founder of Resilience, and Manu Lecomte.
"Lucis has moved with remarkable velocity… a clear category winner in Europe," Jeremy Uzan, partner at Singular, said in the company's announcement.
The market Lucis is entering has grown crowded quickly. Neko Health, the Swedish preventive health venture backed by Spotify's Daniel Ek, reportedly raised significant capital and announced U.S. expansion plans. InsideTracker and ZOE offer personalized nutrition and biomarker analysis. Function Health continues to expand its membership-based comprehensive testing in the United States.
Consumer behavior appears to be shifting in Lucis's favor. Recent industry reports have documented rising demand for proactive health management, with a growing focus on healthspan rather than lifespan alone. Whether that translates into sustained willingness to pay for preventive testing remains an open question, particularly in European markets where public healthcare systems already provide extensive coverage.
Lucis declined to detail how it will deploy the new capital. Tech.eu reported the Series A at €17 million in its funding tracker. The company has now raised $28 million in total equity funding.
"We are making prevention the default, rather than a privilege," Berthelot said in May.
Whether privilege becomes default depends partly on economics. Preventive health testing requires convincing healthy people to pay for services they may not immediately need. Lucis appears confident it can thread that needle, at least in markets where consumers have demonstrated appetite for health optimization. The quick Series A suggests its investors share that confidence.
