Key Investor Signals
Spun out of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
DKFZ, Germany's national cancer research centre in Heidelberg, lists Bioklar among its 2026 spin-off companies, citing the Varklar platform for faster rare disease diagnosis.
Advised by CENTOGENE founder and former CEO Arndt Rolfs
Prof. Arndt Rolfs founded rare disease diagnostics company CENTOGENE in 2006 and led it as CEO until 2020, including its Nasdaq listing. He is listed as an advisor to Bioklar.
Founder created Maftools, cited about 4,900 times
Anand Mayakonda is first author of Maftools, an open-source tool for analysing cancer mutation data. Its 2018 Genome Research paper has about 4,900 citations on Google Scholar.
Other Positive Signals
- Launched Varklar in public beta, with online sign-in and upload of sequencing variant files for analysis.
- Team includes a clinical genomics scientist with more than eight years of industry rare disease experience.
Team
Anand Mayakonda, PhD
Managing Director
- Leads a bioinformatics research group at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, working in cancer genomics since 2023.
- First author of Maftools, a widely used cancer mutation analysis tool whose 2018 Genome Research paper has about 4,900 citations.
- Earned a PhD from Heidelberg University in 2021, then worked as a bioinformatician at Rostock diagnostics company Arcensus.
Product
Varklar is a browser-based decision-support platform for clinical genomics teams. It takes the variant file produced by a genome sequencing pipeline and returns a ranked shortlist of candidate variants, with the evidence behind each call. Final interpretation stays with qualified professionals.
Evidence-based variant classification
Varklar checks each variant against the 28 ACMG/AMP criteria used by clinical labs, drawing on population and clinical databases such as gnomAD and ClinVar. Each classification shows the data behind it.
Ranking by the patient's symptoms
Clinicians record the patient's features as Human Phenotype Ontology terms. An AI agent combines these with the classification results to rank candidate genes and variants, and shows its reasoning step by step.
Draft clinical reports for sign-off
The platform drafts a clinical report for the top candidates, citing the criteria applied, family segregation evidence and published literature. Colleagues can edit the draft together before sign-off.
Market Overview
About 72% of rare diseases are genetic, and about 70% begin exclusively in childhood. Whole-genome sequencing can test for many of them at once, but interpretation remains a bottleneck. Labs must filter each genome, classify candidate variants and match them to the patient's symptoms, and most patients in large national programmes still receive no genetic diagnosis.
Health systems are moving genome sequencing into routine care. Since July 2024, Germany's Model Project Genome Sequencing has reimbursed it for patients with suspected rare diseases at approved university hospitals, funded by statutory insurers with private insurers able to join. Each sequenced case adds interpretation work for clinical genomics teams.
Estimated global point prevalence, equal to 3.5–5.9% of the population.
From first symptoms to confirmed diagnosis, based on 6,507 patients with 1,675 rare diseases in 41 countries.
Share of index patients given a genetic diagnosis in the 100,000 Genomes pilot covering 2,183 families.
Committed by statutory health insurers for genome sequencing in rare disease and cancer, starting July 2024.
Comparable Outcomes
Genoox
Genoox built Franklin, a cloud platform that uses AI to help clinical labs interpret genome and exome sequencing data for hereditary disease. More than 4,000 healthcare organisations in over 50 countries used it. QIAGEN acquired Genoox in May 2025 for $70 million in cash, with up to $10 million in additional milestone payments.
Fabric Genomics
Fabric Genomics developed AI-supported software for analysing and interpreting genomic data, including inherited-disease and rapid diagnostic workflows. GeneDx acquired Fabric in May 2025 for approximately $33 million in cash at closing, with up to $18 million in milestone payments.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.