Hepta Bio closed a $6.7 million seed round led by Felicis Ventures and Illumina Ventures to develop an AI‑driven liquid biopsy that analyzes differential methylation in cell‑free DNA for chronic disease detection, initially targeting metabolic dysfunction‑associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Hepta reported clinical data showing an AUC of 0.86 for identifying patients with significant fibrosis, positioning the test to reduce false positives relative to current blood tests and to increase patient access as MASH therapeutics emerge. The company plans to expand datasets, scale its platform, and pursue regulatory milestones with the new funding. For readers: cfDNA methylation assays detect epigenetic patterns across fragments of circulating DNA and can reveal tissue‑specific disease signatures without relying on rare mutation signals used in oncology.