Is Nucleo profitable in 2026?

No profitability data exists. Nucleo is a two-person, YC Fall 2025 startup that publicly launched in November 2025 and again via a writeup in February 2026. No revenue figures from a primary source have been disclosed, and the company has not made any profitability claims as of mid 2026.

Could AI replace what Nucleo does?

Nucleo's entire product is AI automating CT tumor segmentation, but that same task is being published as open research: ONCOPILOT (Nature, April 2025) and LETT-NeXt (CVPR 2026) already match radiologist-level RECIST accuracy, meaning Nucleo's core function risks commoditization by freely available models.

Who is Nucleo's biggest competitor?

Aidoc, a clinical-AI incumbent that closed a $150M Series E led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives on April 29, 2026, bringing total funding past $500M, with 20+ FDA clearances and a stated two-year roadmap into cancer, the exact space Nucleo occupies.

Does Nucleo have FDA clearance for its CT analysis tool?

No FDA clearance for Nucleo has been found in public sources as of July 26, 2026. By contrast, competitor Aidoc holds 20+ FDA clearances and Median Technologies holds 10 regulatory approvals, both disclosed as of their respective 2026 company pages.

Nucleo Research, Inc. is privately held, founded in 2025 by CEO Angelica Iacovelli and CTO Luca Pegolotti, and is part of Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch. No parent company or acquirer has been reported as of mid 2026.

How much funding has Nucleo raised?

Third-party aggregator profiles list Nucleo's total funding at $4.0M at seed stage, but this figure comes from an aggregator source, not a primary press release or filing, and should be treated as unconfirmed as of 2026.

YC Fall 2025 · United States

Nucleo

Nucleo makes AI software that scans CT images to flag tumors for radiologists.

Little protection left

Assessed 26 July 2026 · Evidence as of 26 July 2026

Not much stands between this business and its pressures.

On the recordSince 26 July 2026 · Checkable from Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Aidoc ships its first oncology product or wins an FDA clearance in a cancer indication

The call

Nucleo works on a task a 23-year specialist already covers, a well-funded rival is entering, and open research models already publish for free.

Nucleo builds software to identify tumors in medical scans, a task that hospitals and radiologists need done accurately and fast. However, this work is already being done by Aidoc, a well-funded company with 20+ government approvals and a stated plan to enter cancer work by 2028, and by Median Technologies, which has 10 approvals and 23 years of experience in this exact space. Meanwhile, free, open-source AI models published by top research groups (ONCOPILOT and LETT-NeXt) can do similar cancer segmentation work, which means any company or hospital could build their own version without paying Nucleo. Nucleo has no published FDA approval, no exclusive dataset, no locked-in hospital contracts, and no clear path to doctors' workflows, which means the company needs to ship a product that hospitals actually prefer before Aidoc enters the cancer market in late 2026 or early 2027, or else it risks becoming just one feature among many.

Why

AI pressure: ONCOPILOT and LETT-NeXt open CT foundation models. Published pan-cancer segmentation models do the same core task Nucleo sells, for free, in the open literature. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Aidoc. Aidoc, now backed by $500M and 20+ FDA clearances across 2,000 hospitals, has stated it will move into cancer within two years. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. None disclosed: no FDA clearance, no proprietary data, no hospital contracts, no workflow lock-in yet.

What would change this call

Aidoc ships a cancer segmentation product or FDA clearance in a cancer indication. Confirms Aidoc has entered Nucleo's segment and closes Nucleo's window.
Nucleo announces an FDA submission with a named regulatory pathway. Shows Nucleo building a regulatory moat before Aidoc arrives.
Nucleo discloses an exclusive hospital or biopharma data-sharing agreement. Would indicate Nucleo securing distribution or data lock-in it currently lacks.

Key numbers

Aidoc: $150M Series E, total funding over $500M (2026-04-29)
Aidoc: 20+ FDA clearances, ~2,000 hospitals live (2026-04-29)
Median Technologies: 23 years old, 10 regulatory approvals (2026-06-24)

Named risks

No FDA clearance disclosed as of July 2026, unlike Aidoc's 20+ and Median's 10 approvals. Severity: high
No proprietary dataset, hospital integration, or named customers disclosed publicly. Severity: high
Core CT segmentation task being published as open foundation models (ONCOPILOT, LETT-NeXt). Severity: high
Only 2 employees competing against a $500M-funded incumbent with explicit cancer roadmap. Severity: medium
Funding total ($4.0M) reported only by aggregator sources, unconfirmed by primary disclosure. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Aidoc	gaining on	Closed $150M Series E Apr 29 2026, stated 2-year roadmap into cancer, same niche as Nucleo
Median Technologies	contesting	23-year-old oncology imaging specialist with 10 regulatory approvals as of 2026-06-24
ONCOPILOT/LETT-NeXt foundation models	gaining on	Open published CT segmentation models matching radiologist-level RECIST accuracy, Nature 2025 and CVPR 2026
Eden (YC-backed)	contesting	Claims presence in 2,600+ medical institutions across 18 countries, vendor-claimed

Questions people ask

Is Nucleo profitable in 2026?: No profitability data exists. Nucleo is a two-person, YC Fall 2025 startup that publicly launched in November 2025 and again via a writeup in February 2026. No revenue figures from a primary source have been disclosed, and the company has not made any profitability claims as of mid 2026.
Could AI replace what Nucleo does?: Nucleo's entire product is AI automating CT tumor segmentation, but that same task is being published as open research: ONCOPILOT (Nature, April 2025) and LETT-NeXt (CVPR 2026) already match radiologist-level RECIST accuracy, meaning Nucleo's core function risks commoditization by freely available models.
Who is Nucleo's biggest competitor?: Aidoc, a clinical-AI incumbent that closed a $150M Series E led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives on April 29, 2026, bringing total funding past $500M, with 20+ FDA clearances and a stated two-year roadmap into cancer, the exact space Nucleo occupies.
Does Nucleo have FDA clearance for its CT analysis tool?: No FDA clearance for Nucleo has been found in public sources as of July 26, 2026. By contrast, competitor Aidoc holds 20+ FDA clearances and Median Technologies holds 10 regulatory approvals, both disclosed as of their respective 2026 company pages.
Who owns Nucleo?: Nucleo Research, Inc. is privately held, founded in 2025 by CEO Angelica Iacovelli and CTO Luca Pegolotti, and is part of Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch. No parent company or acquirer has been reported as of mid 2026.
How much funding has Nucleo raised?: Third-party aggregator profiles list Nucleo's total funding at $4.0M at seed stage, but this figure comes from an aggregator source, not a primary press release or filing, and should be treated as unconfirmed as of 2026.

Timeline

2026-04-29Aidoc closes $150M Series E led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, total funding tops $500M
2026-02-08Nucleo Launches writeup published (Fondo blog)
2025-11-04Nucleo publicly launches via Y Combinator Launch page
2025-09-01Aidoc's CARE1 foundation model receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation
2025-04-24ONCOPILOT CT foundation model for tumor evaluation published in Nature npj Precision Oncology
2025-01-30Aidoc raises $110M Series D to expand AI care platform

Revision history

26 July 2026

First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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