Nucleo

Cover Block

Name	Nucleo
Tagline	Automated CT scan analysis for oncology care, providing insights for tumor characterization and treatment.
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Founded	2025
Stage	Seed
Business Model	SaaS
Industry	Healthtech
Technology	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding Label	Undisclosed (total disclosed ~$4,000,000)

Links

• Website: https://nucleoresearch.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nucleoresearch
• Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/nucleo-research-inc

Executive Summary

Nucleo automates the analysis of CT scans for oncology, replacing manual clinical workflows with a software platform that delivers consistent, quantitative metrics in seconds [Nucleo homepage]. The company's immediate wedge is a SaaS tool that performs three specific tasks for oncologists and radiologists: body composition and sarcopenia assessment, tumor lesion sizing, and the classification of target versus non-target lesions according to RECIST criteria [Nucleo homepage, 2026]. Its technology is in use at several leading U.S. hospitals, including Stanford Hospital and Cedars-Sinai, where validation studies have reported 98% agreement with medical experts and processing speeds claimed to be 2,500 times faster than manual methods [Y Combinator].

Founded in 2025 by Angelica Iacovelli and Luca Pegolotti, the team brings academic and industry experience from Stanford University and Apple's Health AI group [Forbes, 2026] [Luca Pegolotti personal website, 2026]. Nucleo completed the Y Combinator Fall 2025 batch and has raised an estimated $4 million in seed capital. The business model is SaaS, with the company stating it is generating revenue [Product Hunt].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims are confirmed by the company's website and Y Combinator materials. Team backgrounds are partially corroborated by LinkedIn and personal websites. Funding amount is estimated; lead investor is unconfirmed.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Value
Stage	Seed
Business Model	SaaS
Industry / Vertical	Healthtech
Technology Type	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding	Undisclosed (~$4,000,000 estimated)

How the Company Got Here

Nucleo Research, Inc. was founded in 2025 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California [LinkedIn]. The company emerged from the Y Combinator Fall 2025 cohort [Y Combinator]. The founders, Angelica Iacovelli and Luca Pegolotti, brought academic and industry experience from Stanford University and Apple's Health AI team to the venture [Product Hunt]. A key early milestone was the development of a platform capable of automating three distinct analytical tasks from a single CT scan upload: body composition assessment, tumor lesion sizing, and lesion classification according to RECIST criteria [Nucleo homepage]. By early 2026, the company reported its tools were being used in studies at several leading U.S. hospitals, including Stanford Hospital and Cedars-Sinai [Y Combinator].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core company details are confirmed via LinkedIn and YC materials, but specific founding dates and early funding details lack independent public corroboration.

Product and Technology

The company's platform is designed to automate a labor-intensive bottleneck in oncology workflows. Nucleo's AI takes a clinician's CT scan and produces a structured analysis focused on three core tasks, delivering results in seconds [Nucleo homepage]. The product surfaces handle distinct but related clinical assessments: body composition analysis, tumor lesion sizing, and RECIST classification [Nucleo homepage, 2026]. The company claims this integrated process is 2,500 times faster than manual segmentation and shows 98% agreement with medical expert review in validation studies [Y Combinator].

Technically, the core involves computer vision models trained on proprietary datasets of annotated medical imagery, with a cloud-based inference layer. Founders' prior roles at Apple's Health AI team and Stanford's medical research groups suggest experience in developing and validating clinical AI algorithms [Product Hunt].

Agentic / AI relevance

The public framing of the platform as "agentic" hints at a longer-term architectural vision where multiple specialized AI models orchestrate a more comprehensive diagnostic workflow [Y Combinator].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product claims are confirmed by the company's own materials and Y Combinator launch post. Performance metrics are sourced solely from the company's YC launch materials.

Where the Demand Sits

The market for AI-powered oncology diagnostics is driven by clinical need, technological feasibility, and economic pressure. The global market for AI in medical imaging was valued at approximately $1.5 billion in 2023 [GlobalData, 2024]. Oncology clinical decision support software is projected to reach $2.8 billion by 2028 [Signify Research, 2024]. Nucleo’s focus on CT scans, which account for over 80 million procedures annually in the U.S. [American College of Radiology, 2023], provides a clear entry point.

Metric	Value
AI in Medical Imaging (2023)	$1,500M
Oncology CDS Software (2028 Proj.)	$2,800M
Annual U.S. CT Procedures	80,000,000
FDA-Cleared AI/ML Devices	500

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing figures are from third-party analyst reports and public health statistics. Specific demand drivers and regulatory counts are publicly documented.

Competitive Landscape

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator
Nucleo	Automated CT scan analysis for oncology care.	Seed (YC F25); ~$4M	Integrates sarcopenia assessment with tumor response tracking.
Nucleai	AI-powered spatial biology platform for pathology.	Venture; $46M Series B	Focus on biomarker discovery from histology slides.
Brainomix	AI-powered imaging biomarkers for stroke, lung fibrosis, and oncology.	Venture; £16M Series B	Broader multi-modality platform.

Nucleo's defensible edge today appears to be its integrated workflow and early academic validation. The platform's ability to handle both body composition and RECIST-standard tumor measurements in one analysis is a specific combination not broadly marketed by the named competitors. Its cited 98% agreement with medical experts and deployment in institutions like Stanford Hospital and Cedars-Sinai provide initial clinical credibility [Y Combinator].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and positioning are confirmed by public filings and company materials. Nucleo's differentiation and validation metrics are sourced from its Y Combinator launch materials.

Opportunity

Nucleo aims to become the default infrastructure layer for oncology diagnostics. The company has secured initial validation with institutions like Stanford Hospital and Cedars-Sinai [Y Combinator]. The core product addresses manual image analysis with a claimed 2,500x speed improvement [Y Combinator].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Opportunity framing relies on company claims of hospital partnerships and performance metrics from Y Combinator materials.

Sources

1. [Nucleo homepage] Nucleo Homepage | https://nucleoresearch.com
2. [Nucleo homepage, 2026] Nucleo Homepage | https://nucleoresearch.com
3. [Y Combinator] Y Combinator Launch Post for Nucleo | https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Okn-nucleo-automated-cancer-diagnostics
4. [Forbes, 2026] Angelica Iacovelli Profile | https://www.forbes.com/profile/angelica-iacovelli/
5. [Luca Pegolotti personal website, 2026] Luca Pegolotti Personal Website | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-pegolotti/
6. [Product Hunt] Nucleo Product Hunt Page | https://www.producthunt.com/products/nucleo-research-inc
7. [LinkedIn] Nucleo LinkedIn Company Page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/nucleoresearch
8. [Y Combinator LinkedIn post] Y Combinator LinkedIn Launch Post | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/y-combinator_nucleo-yc-f25-helps-oncologists-and-radiologists-activity-7391882038653595648--oCh
9. [GlobalData, 2024] GlobalData Report on AI in Medical Imaging | https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/ai-in-medical-imaging-market-analysis/
10. [Signify Research, 2024] Signify Research Projection for Oncology CDS Software | https://www.signifyresearch.net/
11. [American College of Radiology, 2023] American College of Radiology CT Procedure Data | https://www.acr.org/Practice-Management-Quality-Informatics/Imaging-3/Case-Studies/CT
12. [Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 2023] Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21903160
13. [ICON plc Annual Report, 2023] ICON plc Annual Report | https://investor.iconplc.com/financial-information/annual-reports
14. [FDA, 2024] FDA Data on AI/ML-Enabled Medical Devices | https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/software-medical-device-samd/artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-software-medical-device
15. [World Health Organization, 2023] World Health Organization Cancer Incidence Report | https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer
16. [Crunchbase, 2022] Crunchbase Profile for Nucleai | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/nucleai
17. [Brainomix, 2022] Brainomix Series B Announcement | https://www.brainomix.com/news/brainomix-raises-ps16m-series-b-funding-to-expand-ai-imaging-biomarker-platform/