Liran Belenzon is the CEO of BenchSci, an intelligence platform that transforms published data into experiment-specific recommendations.
Education
Liran Belenzon studied Business Management, Law, and Finance from Interdisciplinary Center in 2009. He attended the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management and earned an MBA in 2016. Between 2014 and 2016, Belenzon was elected as class representative of the Management Consulting Association. Belenzon was also a member of the Business Design Club and a member of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Association. Belenzon was a regional finalist of A.T Kearney “Global Price” Challenge, Finalist of Business Design “Sprint” challenge.
Early career
Liran Belenzon was a Commander of the Office for Soldier Welfare and Recruiting Operations at Israel Defense Forces in November 2004. Belenzon commanded and mentored a team of 12 soldiers, and chaired monthly meetings with high-ranking officers on the unit’s performance. Belenzon also strategized drafting procedures for over 50,000 soldiers each year, headed unit recruitment, and interviewed and selected 60 personnel. Belenzon also got nominated for Presidential Excellence Award.
In January 2008, Belenzon worked as a Marketing Assistant at MVS Computers and IT Solutions Inc. He spearheaded the company’s online presence, which included the development of an online marketing strategy and co-designing a newly branded website with specific emphasis on User Experience. Belenzon left the company in September 2009.
In May 2011, Belenzon co-founded and the co-CEO of Standy, innovative solutions for interior advertising on public buses. As a co-COE, Belenzon researched and analyzed the Israeli transit advertisement market; presented findings to the board of SchlieperColor GMBH and facilitated an exclusivity agreement to distribute patented products in Israel. Standy negotiated partnership agreement with a bus company, Kavim Inc., who provided 250 buses for advertising and partnered with IKEA and launched a campaign that fitted public buses with IKEA-branded bus handles.
Belenzon also co-founded Biz-Coupon Inc. (powered by Globes), Israel’s first B2B e-commerce website, in May 2011. Biz-Coupon negotiated an equity investment in which Globes acquired a 50% stake of the company, and provided funding and advertising investment worth $500,000. The company generated revenues of $1,200,000 in the second year by developing a business and marketing strategy that integrated e-commerce and B2B. It also formed a network of over 300 suppliers which included the leading retailers in Israel, and developed a B2B white-label platform and sold it to Leumi Card, Israel’s largest credit card issuer.
In May 2015, Belenzon was an Associate at Chinook Capital Group. As an Associate, Belenzon designed and implemented a unique process to identify and approach potential acquisition targets. Belenzon also conducted industry analyses and evaluated acquisition targets using various financial models.
BenchSci
In January 2016, Belenzon co-founded and the CEO of BenchSci, an intelligence platform that transforms published data into experiment-specific recommendations, along with David Qixiang Chen as CTO, Elvis Wianda as CDO, and Tom Leung as CSO.
BenchSci’s platform applies machine learning to support researchers find reliable antibodies based on data from scientific papers. Its customer base includes 14 pharmaceutical companies and 910 academic research institutions, including UCLA, Harvard, Stanford, and MD Anderson.
In February 2018, BenchSci and Springer Nature announced a partnership designed to address the challenge millions of biomedical researchers face when searching for biological products for their research in scientific papers. In July 2018, BenchSci took the top spot on the Branham Group’s list of top 25 up-and-coming Canadian companies.
In November 2018, BenchSci and GeneTex, Inc. announced a partnership to overcome a challenge that biomedical researchers face when selecting antibody reagents for their experiments. The partnership aims to solve this problem by combining the company’s 50,000-reagent catalog with BenchSci’s artificial intelligence platform. In July 2019, BenchSci and Sanbio B.V. entered into a partnership to provide scientists with high-quality research products for accelerating biomedical discoveries.
Funding rounds
In October 2015, BenchSci raised an undisclosed amount in non-equity assistance. In October 2016, BenchSci raised CA$254.5K in a pre-seed round, led by Real Ventures. In July 2017, BenchSci secured CA$2.5 million in a seed round, led by Golden Ventures, with the participation from Real Ventures, Radical Ventures, Afore Capital, and 500 Startups Canada.
In May 2018, BenchSci raised CA$10.2 million in a Series A round, led by iNovia Capital, with the participation from existing investors Real Ventures, Radical Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, and 500 Startups Canada. During this round, Gradient Ventures has also joined the funding. The investment is used to expand its team of scientists and engineers, execute new sales and marketing programs for customer acquisition, and scale its technology.
In June 2019, BenchSci raised CA$7.3 million in a debt financing round and additional CA$6.7 million from Gradient Ventures. BenchSci will use further investment to expand its office and team to meet increasing demand from pharmaceutical companies for its biomedical AI technology, which enables scientists to operate more successful experiments to expedite drug discovery.
BenchSci has raised a total of CA$26.9 million in funding and funded by eight investors. BenchSci competes with LabRoots, Biocompare, and GenomeWeb.