Fierce Biotech Fundraising Tracker '24: Evommune secures $115M series C; Axonis advances to clinic with $115M

A new year means a new Fierce Biotech Fundraising Tracker to record all the venture capital being funneled into the industry for 2024.

We're bumping up our reporting criteria from last year's tracker, including any fundraising rounds north of $50 million this time around. We'll still profile exciting new companies and larger rounds in-depth, while we focus more coverage on clinical trial results, special reports and enterprise stories.

 

October

Oct. 31—Evommune
Series: C
Amount: $115 million 
Investors: Co-led by new investors RA Capital Management and Sectoral Asset Management, with other new investors B Capital, Marshall Wace, Avego Bioscience Capital, Longwood Fund, RTW Investments, ADAR1 Capital Management, NEXTBio Capital, Beiersdorf Venture Capital, FemHealth Ventures and Allostery Investments LP and existing investors Pivotal bioVenture Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Amplitude Ventures, Symbiosis and Verition Fund Management.

Evommune, a company focused on immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, will use the raise to advance its lead programs in chronic urticaria and atopic dermatitis. This includes multiple phase 2 studies of small molecule EVO756, which targets mas-related G-protein coupled receptor X2. The company anticipates phase 2 data readouts in 2025 and 2026. Release

 

Oct. 30—Axonis Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $115 million 
Investors: Co-led by Cormorant Asset Management and venBio Partners, with significant investments from Sofinnova Investments, MRL Ventures Fund, Perceptive Advisors, Lumira Ventures and Solasta Ventures. Eos Bioinnovation, Hatteras Venture Partners, SCI Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Tachyon Ventures, BoxOne, Iaso Ventures and Pathway Bioventures also participated.

Neuromedicine firm Axonis will use the raise to advance their lead candidate, an oral small molecule for epilepsy and pain, through clinical proof-of-concept in patients. The funds will also support the development of other drugs for the same target, a CNS chloride transporter called KCC2, in other indications, including psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Release

 

Oct. 30—Blue Earth Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $76.5 million 
Investors: Led by Soleus Capital and co-led by Sands Capital Management with existing investor Bracco Imaging SpA and new investors Woodline Partners and PBM Capital.

British biotech Blue Earth will use the series A haul to advance its clinical-stage PSMA-targeted radioligand therapies for prostate cancer. The company announced phase 1 results for its lead candidate earlier this month. Release

 

Oct. 29—Pathos AI
Series: C
Amount: $62 million 
Investors: Led by New Enterprise Associates with participation from Revolution Growth and other existing investors, including Lightbank and Builders VC.  

Pathos AI has reeled in $62 million, funds that will go toward growing the biotech's team, building out its AI-based drug development platform and pushing forward a pipeline of precision oncology candidates. This latest round brings the three-year-old biotech's total funds raised to $102 million. Release

 

Oct. 28—Kivu Bioscience
Series: A
Amount: $92 million 
Investors: Led by Novo Holdings, with participation from Gimv, Red Tree Venture Capital and HealthCap, as well as existing investors BioGeneration Ventures, M Ventures and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij.

Bay Area biotech Kivu is looking to pioneer the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates to be safer and more effective for cancer patients. The company's assets are currently in late-stage preclinical studies, and the firm will use the $92 million raise to advance multiple oncology programs into the clinic. Release

 

Oct. 25—Agomab Therapeutics
Series: D
Amount: $89 million 
Investors: New investors Sanofi and Invus, as well as existing investors.

The Belgian biotech will use the raise to advance its lead candidate, AGMB-129, a gut-restricted oral small molecule inhibitor of ALK5 (TGFβ1R), in patients with fibrostenosing Crohn’s disease. The drug is currently in a phase 2a trial, with interim data expected to read out early next year. The funds will also go to AGMB-447, a lung-restricted inhaled small molecule currently in a Phase 1 trial for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and development of a liver cirrhosis drug currently in the final stages of IND-enabling studies. Release

 

Oct. 23—Alpha-9 Oncology
Series: C
Amount: $175 million 
Investors: Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ascenta Capital, with new investors General Catalyst, a16z Bio + Health, RA Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Delos Capital, Digitalis Ventures, Lumira Ventures and a healthcare fund managed by abrdn Inc., along with existing investors Frazier Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Nextech Invest, BVF Partners LP. and Samsara BioCapital.

Alpha-9 Oncology has raised a $175 million series C round to bankroll its clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical drugs, although the exact details of the biotech’s pipeline remain hazy for now. The Canadian company said it had already established a “robust clinical pipeline of radiopharmaceuticals,” and today’s fundraise would advance these therapies through clinical studies “across multiple tumors with high unmet patient need.” Story

 

Oct. 22—Be Biopharma
Series: N/A
Amount: $82 million 
Investors: ARCH Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, RA Capital Management, Alta Partners, Longwood Fund, Bristol Myers Squibb and Takeda Ventures.

Be Bio is bringing its engineered B cells to the clinic with the help of an $82 million financing. The funds will be used to achieve clinical proof of concept for the company's lead candidate for hemophilia B and to advance their asset for hypophosphatasia, a severe genetic disease with very high unmet medical need. Release

 

Oct. 22—AvenCell Therapeutics
Series: B
Amount: $112 million 
Investors: Novo Holdings, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Ventures Japan, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, NYBC Ventures and Blackstone Life Sciences.

AvenCell has secured $112 million in series B financing, money that will help the company generate clinical proof that its CAR-T cells can be turned “on” once inside a patient. The method is designed to treat blood cancers more safely and effectively than traditional cell therapies, according to the company. AvenCell’s lead asset is AVC-101, a CD123-directed autologous cell therapy being assessed in a phase 1 trial for acute myeloid leukemia. Story

 

Oct. 21—Seaport Therapeutics
Series: B
Amount: $225 million 
Investors: General Atlantic, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Foresite Capital, Invus, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, CPP Investments, ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Investments, Third Rock Ventures and co-founder PureTech Health, plus other unnamed investors.

After launching in April, Seaport Therapeutics and its crew of Karuna veterans have loaded up with $225 million. The oversubscribed series B was led by new investor General Atlantic and will be channeled toward the biotech's pipeline of neuropsychiatric medicines. Seaport's science is centered on its Glyph platform, which is designed to enhance the bioavailability of oral drugs by reducing their metabolism in the body before they reach their intended target. This should, in turn, reduce hepatotoxicity and other side effects. Story

 

Oct. 17—Terray Therapeutics
Series: B
Amount: $120 million 
Investors: Led by new investor Bedford Ridge Capital and existing investor NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), with participation from new and existing investors Maverick Capital, Goldcrest Capital, Madrona Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, XTX Ventures, Digitalis Ventures and Alexandria Ventures.

AI-focused Terray's series B is double the size of its 2022 series A amount, raking in $120 million aimed at transforming small molecule drug development. The Los Angeles-based biotech will use the new cash to advance internal immunology programs into the clinic and continue building out tNova, the company’s generative AI platform. So far, the platform has helped Terray measure more than 5 billion target-ligand interactions over the last three years. Story

 

Oct. 9—Basecamp Research 
Series: B
Amount: $60 million 
Investors: Singular, S32, redalpine, True Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures, and individual investors André Hoffmann (vice-chairman of Roche), Feike Sijbesma (chair of Royal Philips and former CEO of DSM), and Paul Polman (former CEO of Unilever). 

The London-based AI biotech has raised $60 million, money that will help scale the pace and volume of Basecamp's data collection and breakthroughs, such as making enzyme design programmable. Alongside the series B, the biotech has also inked a multi-year collaboration with the lab of David Liu, Ph.D., at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The partnership is designed to advance new approaches in programmable genetic medicines across a wide range of diseases. Release

 

Oct. 9—Purespring Therapeutics 
Series: B
Amount: £80 million
Investors: Sofinnova Partners, Gilde Healthcare, Forbion, British Patient Capital and Syncona, 

London-based Purespring plans to bring its gene therapy to the clinic with the help of a new £80 million (about $105 million). The lead asset, dubbed PS-002, is being developed for IgA nephropathy, a disease caused by a build-up of immunoglobulin A in the kidneys. Other programs target nephrotic syndrome and an undisclosed glomerular kidney disease. Story

 

Oct. 8—City Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $135 million 
Investors: Led by ARCH Venture Partners, with participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Slate Path Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Regeneron Ventures, AN Ventures and other undisclosed investors.

John Maraganore, Ph.D., holds the key to the City as the biotech hopes to build new RNA interference (RNAi)-based medicines by engineering the molecules that mediate RNAi, dubbed small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). These siRNAs will be designed to expand the therapeutic reach of RNAi-based therapeutics. City’s first program is slated to enter clinical construction around the end of next year, with the biotech’s engine expected to churn out products for one to two investigational new drug applications each year across multiple therapeutic areas, starting in 2026. Story

 

Oct. 7—Judo Bio
Series: Seed & A
Amount: $100 million 
Investors: Atlas Venture, the Column Group, Droia Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, Euclidean Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, YK Bioventures and other undisclosed funds.  

Judo has emerged with $100 million to develop oligonucleotide medicines, money that will be used to advance the biotech’s lead ligand-siRNA conjugate into the clinic and help expand its STRIKE (Selectively Targeting RNA Into KidnEy) platform. The company’s science is designed to deliver genetic medicines to the kidney—a historically difficult target for genetic meds due to its complex nature—in efforts to tackle systemic and renal diseases. Story

 

Oct. 3—Resolution Therapeutics 
Series: B
Amount: £63.5 million 
Investors: Led by Syncona 

Resolution has raised £63.5 million ($83.3 million) to advance its lead asset, an autologous pro-regenerative macrophage therapy designed to treat end-stage liver disease, into the clinic. The candidate, dubbed RTX001, is slated to enter a phase 1/2 study before the end of the year. The money will also go toward expanding the company's manufacturing platform and its pipeline into other inflammatory and fibrotic indications, including graft-vs-host disease and lung fibrosis. Release 

 

Oct. 2—Triveni Bio 
Series: A
Amount: $152 million
Investors: Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Deep Track Capital, Atlas Venture, Cormorant Asset Management, OrbiMed, Viking Global Investors and Invus. 

Triveni Bio has roped in $115 million in series B funds to advance preclinical antibody programs designed to treat immunological and inflammatory disorders. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the charge of the newest financing round, which comes on the heels of a $92 million series A raised a little less than a year ago. Story

 

Oct. 1—Kailera Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $400 million
Investors: Atlas Venture, Bain Capital Life Sciences, RTW Investments and Lyra Capital.

Kailera Therapeutics has launched into the increasingly crowded obesity space with a portfolio of assets acquired from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals and $400 million in series A funds. The biotech is led by former Cerevel Therapeutics CEO Ron Renaud. Story

 

September 

Sept. 30—Atkis Oncology
Series: B
Amount: $175 million
Investors: RA Capital Management, RTW Investments, Janus Henderson Investors, T. Rowe Price Associates, Avidity Partners, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, and Merck & Co.'s MRL Ventures Fund, and an undisclosed life sciences-focused investment fund. 

Aktis has added on $175 million in an upsized series B for its plan to develop a pipeline of new targeted alpha radiopharmaceuticals to treat a range of solid tumors. The company’s first clinical program targets Nectin-4, a tumor-associated antigen found in urothelial and other solid cancers. Story

 

Sept. 25—Genespire
Series: B
Amount: $52 million
Investors: Co-led by Sofinnova Partners, XGEN Venture and CDP Venture Capital through its Large Venture Fund, with Indaco SGR.

Italian gene therapy company Genespire has brought in €46.6 million (about $52 million) in series B funding to advance its off-the-shelf pediatric gene therapy for methylmalonic acidemia into the clinic and to boost its pipeline. Release

 

Sept. 23—Vicebio
Series: B
Amount: $100 million
Investors: TCGX, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Avoro Ventures, venBio, UniQuest and Medicxi.  

British biotech ViceBio has secured $100 million to fund an ongoing phase 1 trial of its bivalent vaccine targeting both RSV and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). A readout for the vaccine, dubbed VXB-241, is expected next year. Further, the company will use some of the cash to push ahead with VXB-251, a trivalent vaccine targeting RSV, hMPV and parainfluenza virus 3. Story

 

Sept. 19—GC Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $65 million
Investors: Cormorant Asset Management, Mubadala Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, Medical Excellence Capital, Cercano Management and Pear VC.

GC Therapeutics has entered gameplay with the mission of unlocking a new generation of cell therapies with tech developed in the lab of George Church, Ph.D. The series A financing brings the company’s total capital raised since its 2019 inception to $75 million. GCTx’s initial focus will be on gastrointestinal, neurological and immunological diseases. Story

 

Sept. 17—Nura Bio
Series: A extension
Amount: $68 million
Investors: The Column Group, Samsara Bio Capital, Euclidean Capital, Sanofi Ventures.

Nura has tacked on the additional funds to its initial series A round of $73 million from 2020. The latest fundraise comes as the biotech prepares to move its lead SARM1 inhibitor NB-4746 into a phase 1b/2 trial, alongside Chief Scientific Officer Shilpa Sambashivan, Ph.D., stepping up to the CEO role. Release

 

Sept. 12—F2G
Series: A
Amount: $100 million
Investors: AMR Action Fund, ICG, Novo Holdings, Advent Life Sciences, Sofinnova Partners, Forbion, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Morningside Ventures, Brace Pharmaceuticalsand Merifin Capital.  

After F2G’s first attempt to get a brand-new class of antifungal to market was derailed by the FDA, the U.K.-based biotech has secured $100 million in fresh funding to bankroll another push towards commercialization next year. The asset in question is olorofim, part of a new class of antifungal drugs called orotomides. The Shionogi-partnered candidate inhibits the dihydroorotate dehydrogenase enzyme to disrupt the synthesis of pyrimidines, compounds that are essential to fungi. Story

 

Sept. 9—Candid Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $370 million
Investors: Co-led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Fairmount, TCGX and venBio Partners. Other investors include Foresite Capital, Third Rock Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Samsara BioCapital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, OrbiMed, Boxer Capital, Redmile Group, Vida Ventures, Two River, Franklin Templeton, LifeSci Venture Partners, Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, Polaris Innovation Fund, Soleus Capital and others.

After overseeing the $4.1 billion sale of radiopharma player RayzeBio to Bristol Myers Squibb, biotech veteran Ken Song, M.D., didn’t take long to set up his next big venture. He is now chairman, president and CEO of Candid Therapeutics, which has debuted with a $370 million series A and a goal to dominate the T-cell engager market. Story

 

Sept. 9—Superluminal Medicines
Series: A
Amount: $120 million
Investors: Led by RA Capital Management with existing investors Insight Partners, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm) and Gaingels. New investors Catalio Capital Management, Eli Lilly and Company and Cooley LLP joined.

Just over a year after launching with $33 million in seed funding, Boston-based Superluminal Medicines is supercharging its small-molecule drug development with a $120 million series A to develop drugs targeting G protein coupled receptors. Story

 

Sept. 6—OrsoBio
Series: B
Amount: $67 million
Investors: Co-led by new investors Ascenta Capital and Woodline Partners LP, with significant participation from existing investors Samsara Biocapital, Longitude Capital, Enavate Sciences, NuevaBio and Eli Lilly and Company.

Obesity-focused OrsoBio will use the raise to advance its mitochondrial protonophores, which can pair with GLP-1s. The biotech's lead asset is TLC-6740, a novel, oral, liver-targeted mitochondrial protonophore currently in a Phase 1b clinical trial in patients living with obesity. Release

 

Sept. 4—ArsenalBio
Series: C
Amount: $325 million
Investors: New investors ARCH Venture Partners, Milky Way Investments Group, Regeneron Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Luma Group, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Rock Springs Capital, among others. Ongoing support from existing investors the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Westlake Village BioPartners, Kleiner Perkins, Byers Capital and Hitachi Ventures.

Arsenal will use the oversubscribed series C to advance candidates in kidney and prostate cancer, while pushing aside their former lead asset in ovarian cancer. Their new lead asset, AB-2100, entered a phase 1/2 trial for clear-cell renal cell carcinoma this spring and nabbed fast-track designation from the FDA. Story 

 

Sept. 3—Circle Pharma 
Series: D
Amount: $90 million
Investors: The Column Group, Nextech Invest and Euclidean Capital.

Circle's series D will be funneled toward the clinical development of CID-078, a cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor, as well as supporting the company's preclinical pipeline sourced from Cycle's MXMO macrocycle platform. The biotech is working to advance intrinsically cell-permeable macrocycles that can be delivered in multiple ways, with lead asset CID-078 being assessed in several solid tumors. Story 

 

 

August

August 27—Navigator Medicines
Series: A
Amount: $100 million
Investors: RA Capital Management and Forbion

Navigator, which was founded earlier this year as a subsidiary of Sera Medicines, has bought itself a pipeline of OX40L-targeted mono- and bispecific antibodies from Korea’s IMBiologics. Headlining the group is IMB101, now rebranded as NAV-240, a bispecific antibody against OX40L and TNFα in a phase 1 study in healthy subjects. Story 

 

August 22—Borealis Biosciences
Series: A
Amount: $150 million
Investors: Novartis and Versant Ventures

Jointly launched by Novartis and Versant, Borealis is emerging from stealth with a $150 million war chest to take on kidney disease using next-generation RNA medicines. As well as the significant starter funds, Borealis is also stepping into the spotlight complete with $100 million in upfront and near-term cash from a licensing deal with Novartis, and is eligible for up to $750 million in milestone payments should the Big Pharma take up its option of acquiring two development-ready programs from the new biotech. Story

 

August 20—Pathalys Pharma
Series: B
Amount: $105 million
Investors: TCGX, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Marshall Wace, KB Investment, JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership, Catalys Pacific and DaVita Venture Group.

Pathalys has pulled in $105 million that help push the kidney-disease-focused biotech's lead candidate through the final stages of clinical development. The company’s primary focus is upacicalcet, a calcimimetic with the potential to improve the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in hemodialysis patients.  

Upacicalcet is already approved for SHPT in Japan, where the drug “performed exceptionally well” in late-stage studies, Pathalys said earlier this year. The new funds will be used to finalize those studies as well as begin the process of preparing an approval submission to the FDA and the “acceleration of preapproval commercialization preparations,” the biotech said. Story

 

August 12—Halda Therapeutics
Series: B
Amount: $126 million
Investors: New investors Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, Vida Ventures, Boxer Capital and Taiho Ventures with existing backers Canaan Partners, Access Biotechnology, Elm Street Ventures and Connecticut Innovations.

Halda will use the funds to take the first of its candidates, HLD-0915, into a phase 1 trial in metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer in the first half of next year. Some of the money will also be used to expand Halda’s team and take another candidate into an early-stage trial in metastatic breast cancer. Story

 

August 7—IDRx, Inc.
Series: B
Amount: $120 million
Investors: Led by RA Capital Management, Commodore Capital, and Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing. Additional new investors include Rock Springs Capital and a U.S.-based healthcare-focused fund. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, Casdin Capital, Nextech Invest Ltd., Forge Life Science Partners, co-founder Nick Lydon, Ph.D. and Merck KGaA also participated.

Oncology biotech IDRx plans to use the series B proceeds to support the ongoing Phase 1/1b study of its lead product candidate IDRX-42, a KIT inhibitor, in patients with KIT-mutant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Additionally, funds will go towards the expected initiation of the first study for IDRX-42 in patients with second-line GIST. Release

 

August 6—Red Queen Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $55 million
Investors: Apple Tree Partners

Apple Tree Partners has launched Red Queen Therapeutics, a new clinical-stage biotech developing new antiviral treatments for the general population, with a focus on immunocompromised patients. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) recently awarded Red Queen a contract to develop a pan-influenza virus fusion inhibitor for rapid response to flu outbreaks. Release

 

August 5—MBX Biosciences
Series: C
Amount: $63.5 million
Investors: Led by Deep Track Capital, with new investors Driehaus Capital Management and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and existing investors Frazier Life Sciences, OrbiMed and Wellington Management.

Hormone-oriented MBX will use the new funds to support a pipeline of peptides and stretch its cash runway into 2026. The biotech recently started the phase 2 clinical trial of MBX 2109, a parathyroid hormone peptide prodrug, in patients with hypoparathyroidism, with topline results expected in the third quarter of 2025. Other areas the biotech is targeting include post-bariatric hypoglycemia and obesity. Release

 

August 1—Outpace Bio
Series: B
Amount: $144 million
Investors: Led by RA Capital Management, with new investors Qatar Investment Authority, Surveyor Capital, Sheatree Capital, Black Opal Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other undisclosed investors, and existing investors ARTIS Ventures, Playground Global, Bristol Myers Squibb, Abstract Ventures, Civilization Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Breton Capital Ventures, WRF Capital and Sahsen Ventures.

AI-powered Outpace will use the oversubscribed series B proceeds to advance multiple programmed T cell product candidates to early clinical proof-of-concept trials for treating solid tumors. The company’s lead program, OPB-101, is a mesothelin-specific chimeric antigen receptor T cell. Release

 

August 1—Jade Biosciences
Series: N/A
Amount: $80 million
Investors: Led by Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners with participation by Deep Track Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, RTW Investments and Braidwell LP.

Autoimmune biotech Jade's $80 million financing will be used to support plans to develop targeted therapies for indications with high unmet need across inflammation and immunology. Jade is the fourth company to launch based on assets discovered and developed by Paragon Therapeutics. Release

 

July 

July 31—AIRNA
Series: A
Amount: $60 million
Investors: Led by Forbion with participation from Ono Venture Investment, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other new investors, as well as AIRNA’s existing syndicate, including ARCH Venture Partners and ND Capital.

AIRNA's oversubscribed $60 million series A brings the RNA-focused biotech's total funds to $90 million. AIRNA’s first product candidate is a treatment for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic condition implicated in severe lung and liver disease, which the company plans to bring into the clinic using the new cash. Release

 

July 26—Confo Therapeutics
Series: B
Amount: €60 million ($65.19 million)
Investors: Led by Ackermans & van Haaren and with new investors Driehaus Capital Management and Quest for Growth, as well as existing investors BioGeneration Ventures, Capricorn Health-tech Fund, Fund+, MINTS (University of Michigan), Perceptive Advisors, Qbic, PMV, V-Bio Ventures, VIB and Wellington Partners.

The Belgian biotech will use the proceeds to advance two programs through phase 1 and two additional programs to IND approval, including molecules targeting GPR75 for obesity. Confo will also expand R&D efforts to discover additional drug candidates for rare endocrine diseases and obesity. Release

 

July 24—Autobahn Therapeutics
Series: C
Amount: $100 million
Investors: Led by Newpath Partners, with new investors Canaan Partners, Monograph Capital, and Insight Partners. Existing investors included founding investors ARCH Venture Partners and Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities as well as BVF Partners, Invus, Samsara BioCapital, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer Ventures, Section 32, Alexandria Venture Investments and GT Healthcare Capital Partners.

The San Diego-based biotech is developing restorative treatments for people affected by neuropsychiatric and neuroimmunologic disorders. Proceeds from the Series C will be used to commence two Phase 2 clinical trials for the company’s lead program, ABX-002, a potent and selective thyroid hormone beta receptor. Release

 

July 23— Brenig Therapeutics
Series: A
Amount: $65 million
Investors: New Enterprise Associates, an “additional U.S.-based healthcare investor,” as well as OrbiMed, Torrey Pines Investments, BioGeneration Ventures

The Parkinson’s-focused biotech will use the funds to take a LRKK2 inhibitor called BT-267 into the clinic for healthy volunteer and then proof-of-concept studies. Release

 

July 19—GRO Biosciences
Series: B
Amount: $60 million 
Investors: Co-led by new investors Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology, the biopharma investment arm of Access Industries. Returning investors Redmile Group, Digitalis Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and Leaps by Bayer.

GRO Biosciences has ended the week with an extra $60.3 million in the bank, which the protein therapeutics-focused biotech will use to push its lead gout treatment into clinical trials. Story

 

July 17—NGM Bio
Series: A
Amount: $122 million 
Investors: A "select group of investors” led by The Column Group.

Under the ownership of Column, NGM has been a private entity since April. Now, Column wants to inject some cash into NGM’s pipeline. Part of the $122 million will go towards the engineered FGF19 analog aldafermin, which is being evaluated in primary sclerosing cholangitis. Story

 

July 16—Cardurion Pharmaceuticals 
Series: B
Amount: $260 million 
Investors: Bain, Ascenta Capital, NEA, GV, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Millennium Management, Farallon Capital Management, Invus, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Delos Capital and Digitalis Ventures.

Cardurion was made flush in 2021 thanks to a $300 million investment from Bain Capital. Now, the biotech is looking to challenge the statin-dominated cardiovascular status quo, using the latest funds to support later-stage clinical trials of its two lead candidates, a PDE9 inhibitor called CRD-750 and a CaMKII inhibitor called CRD-4730. Story

 

July 16—Scorpion Therapeutics
Series: C
Amount: $150 million 
Investors: Frazier Life Sciences, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Willett Advisors, Omega Funds, Vida Ventures, Atlas Venture, Abingworth, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Boxer Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Surveyor Capital, Invus, Wellington Management, Nextech Invest, OrbiMed, Logos Capital, Woodline Partners, Casdin Capital.

The Boston-based biotech applies its drug-hunting platform to validated oncogenes to create small-molecule drug candidates against undruggable targets. Top of the list when it comes to using the infusion of series C funds will be to “expand clinical development” of STX-478, an allosteric, differentiated, mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor that entered a phase 1 study for various solid tumors in May 2023. Story

 

July 16—CatalYm
Series: D
Amount: $150 million 
Investors: NCanaan Partners, Bioqube Ventures, Forbion Growth, Omega Funds, Gilde Healthcare, Jeito Capital, Brandon Capital Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, Vesalius.

On the heels of early-stage data for monoclonal antibody visugromab that showed “impressive and lasting responses” among patients with difficult to treat cancers, the German biotech plans to use the new funds to develop and expand phase 2b trials into select checkpoint-naïve front-line and second-line treatment settings. Story

 

July 16—Asceneuron
Series: C
Amount: $100 million 
Investors: Novo Holdings, EQT Life Sciences Dementia Fund, OrbiMed, SR One, M Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, GSK Equities Investments, JJDC.

Having already shown across a series of phase 1 trials that ASN51 is taken up by the central nervous system and can impact the OGA enzyme, Alzheimer's-focused Asceneuron plans to use its influx of cash to take the drug into phase 2. Story

 

July 9—SciRhom GmbH
Series: A
Amount: $68 million 
Investors: Andera Partners, Kurma Partners, Hadean Ventures, MIG Capital, and Wellington Partners, with participation from new investor Bayern Kapital and existing investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds and PhiFund Ventures. 

SciRhom is switching on its innovative autoimmune therapies with $68 million in series A financing. The company, based in Munich, designs antibodies to target inactive Rhomboid 2, an immune system regulator. SciRhom plans to start dosing the first clinical study evaluating SR-878, a highly specific monoclonal antibody for iRhom2, in the second half of 2024. Release

 

July 8—Myricx Bio
Series: A
Amount: $114 million 
Investors: Abingworth, Novo Holdings, Eli Lilly, the U.K. government’s economic development bank, and founding investors Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners. 

U.K.-based Myricx Bio caught the eye of a crop of major investors courtesy of its unique science. The company will use the $114 million series A financing to push two ADC candidates into the clinic over the coming years, as well as expand the company’s workforce. At the heart of Myricx’s work is the inhibition of an enzyme called N-Myristoyltransferase, which adds a specific lipid modification to certain protein targets that are key to the survival of cancer cells. Story

 

July 3—Beacon Therapeutics 
Series: B 
Amount: $170 million 
Investors: Existing investors Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises and the University of Oxford, as well as initial investments from TCGX and Advent Life Sciences. 

London-based Beacon launched back in 2023 with $120 million to develop gene therapies for retinal diseases that cause blindness. This $170 million series B brings their total funds to a healthy $290 million. Beacon said the latest funds would be used to continue development of lead asset AGTC-501, which is currently in a phase 2/3 clinical trial for the treatment of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. The first patient was dosed last month. Story 

 

June

June 26—Formation Bio

Series: D 
Amount: $372 million
Investors: a16z, Sanofi, Sequoia, Thrive, Emerson Collective, Lachy Groom, SV Angel Growth and FPV Ventures. 

Megarounds have been few and far between in 2024, but AI-based Formation Bio secured an impressive $372 million as the biotech seeks to expand its pipeline. The company partners with other biotechs to improve their workflow automation, such as generating tailored patient recruitment content for specific cohorts of a clinical trial or speedily producing AI-generated adverse event reports. The company said it plans to deploy the new cash to continue to acquire and in-license clinical-stage assets from its biotech and pharma partners. Story

 

June 25—Exsilio Therapeutics

Series: A 
Amount: $82 million
Investors: Co-led by Novartis Venture Fund and Delos Capital, with OrbiMed, Insight Partners, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital, CRISPR Therapeutics, Innovation Endeavors, Invus, Arc Ventures, and Deep Insight. Exsilio was seed-funded by OrbiMed.

Exsilio Therapeutics has emerged with the intent to bring mRNA delivery into gene editing. Helmed by former Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks, Exsilio is developing genomic medicines using naturally occurring, programmable genetic elements that can insert new genes into the cell through mRNA intermediates. The company will use the $82 million fundraising round to conduct drug discovery. Story

 

June 20—iOnctura

Series: B 
Amount: 80 million euros
Investors: Syncona, EIC Fund, M Ventures, Inkef Capital, VI Partners, Schroders Capital, 3B Future Health Fund.

Syncona led the 80 million euros ($86 million) financing round, and the investment firm has personally put 30 million euros ($32.1 million) into the company, resulting in a 23% stake in iOnctura. The biotech plans to use the newly gained cash to push roginolisib, which is described as the first allosteric modulator of PI3Kδ, further into the clinic. Story

 

June 18—Marea Therapeutics 

Series: A&B
Amount: $190 million
Investors: Third Rock Ventures, Sofinnova Investments, Forbion, Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, venBio, Alpha Wave Global, Omega Funds and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company).

Marea Therapeutics has emerged with $190 million and a mid-stage cardiometabolic clinical program. Incubated by Third Rock Ventures, the San Francisco-based biotech will use the money to fund phase 2 activities for lead program MAR001, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) designed to inhibit ANGPTL4, a protein highly expressed in body fat. Preclinical models found that MAR001 reduced triglycerides, remnant cholesterol and ectopic fat, while improving insulin sensitivity, according to Marea. The biotech plans to launch a phase 2b trial assessing MAR001 for metabolic dysfunction in the beginning of next year, according to the spokesperson. Story

 

June 18—Iambic Therapeutics 

Series: B extension  
Amount: $50 million
Investors: Mubadala Capital, Exor Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority, Abingworth, Illumina Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Coatue and Tao Capital Partners. 

Building off a $100 million series B secured in October 2023, Iambic Therapeutics has now raised an oversubscribed $50 million extension round led by new investors Mubadala Capital and Exor Ventures. The new cash will be used to advance the biotech's clinical and preclinical pipeline. This includes IAM1363, a small molecule inhibitor designed to treat both wild-type and oncogenic HER2 mutants currently in phase 1/1b testing, as well as a preclinical dual CDK2/4 inhibitor designed to tackle treatment resistance in solid tumors. Release

 

June 17—Elion Therapeutics 

Series: B
Amount: $81 million
Investors: Deerfield Management, the AMR Action Fund and Illinois Ventures.  

Elion Therapeutics, formerly known as Sfunga Therapeutics, has secured $81 million to support its mission of transforming the treatment paradigm for life-threatening invasive fungal infections. The new funds will help Elion advance clinical-stage candidate SF001, a next-gen polyene antifungal currently being studied in a multiple-ascending dose study. The active molecule is a novel analog of the antifungal amphotericin B and is designed to treat fungal infections with reduced toxicity compared to currently available options. The FDA has granted SF001 fast track designation for early antifungal therapy of a presumed invasive fungal disease and treatment of invasive aspergillosis. Release

 

June 14—InduPro

Series: A
Amount: $85 million
Investors: The Column Group, Vida Ventures, Merck & Co.'s MRL Ventures Fund, Emerson Collective and Euclidean Capital.  

Cancer- and autoimmune disease-focused InduPro has closed an $85 million series A, cash that is expected to advance the biotech's first candidate into clinical trials. The preclinical program targets cancer tissue based on the proximity of co-targeted pairs, and InduPro plans to file an investigational new drug application with the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2025. The series A financing will also go toward an early-stage pipeline of bispecific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates that use protein proximity to identify novel tumor selective target pairings. Former Ribon Therapeutics' CEO Prakash Raman, Ph.D., has also joined on to lead InduPro. Release

 

 

June 13—Santa Ana Bio

Series: A&B
Amount: $168 million
Investors: Versant Ventures, GV, TPG, Access Biotechnology, a16z Bio + Health and RTW.  

With former Kite Pharma leader Peter Emtage, Ph.D., at the helm, Santa Ana has unveiled with $168 million and three precision medicine antibodies slated to enter the clinic next year. Founded by Versant Ventures, the financing is a combined series A and B, with the $43 million series A led by Versant and the $125 million series B led by GV. The California-based biotech touts three preclinical programs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that are designed to attack the cause of disease, as compared to many autoimmune biologics that target cytokines. Story

 

June 12—Alzheon

Series: E
Amount: $100 million
Investors: Led by Alerce Medical Technology Partners  

After raising a $50 million series D in 2022, Alzheon is doubling up with a $100 million round to advance the company's investigational therapies and diagnostic assays for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. More specifically, money will be channeled toward ALZ-801, an oral therapy in phase 3 development for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s. The study is set to read out this year and Alzheon also plans to submit a new drug application to the FDA this year. Release
 

June 11—Bright Peak Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $90 million
Investors: Led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC plus new investors Venrock, KB Investment, and Northleaf Capital Partners. Existing investors: Versant Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Company, RA Capital Management, Qatar Investment Authority, Invus, Alexandria Venture Investments and an undisclosed leading healthcare investment fund.

Immunotherapy biotech Bright Peak has raised $90 million to advance PD1-IL18 immunoconjugate BPT567 into phase 1/2a. The therapy is designed to block the PD(L)-1 checkpoint pathway and target delivery of IL-18 signaling. Bright Peak already has preclinical evidence suggesting the therapy has anti-tumor activity but with more limited activation of immune cells elsewhere. Release

 

May

May 30—CinRx Pharma

Series: N/A
Amount: $73 million
Investors: Previous unnamed investors

Hub-and-spoke biotech CinRx Pharma closed a $73 million financing, bringing the company’s total cash raised to $176 million. Thus far, CinRx has launched five companies mainly in cardiovascular, metabolic and gastrointestinal indications. The new money will be channeled into existing portfolio programs, which includes two clinical-stage obesity therapeutics, two phase 2 gastrointestinal programs and several pre-clinical programs. Release

 

May 23—Grey Wolf Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $50 million
Investors: Led by ICG Life Sciences, plus existing investors Pfizer Ventures, Andera Partners, Canaan, Earlybird Venture Capital, Oxford Science Enterprises and British Patient Capital.

Grey Wolf has brought a series B round up to $99 million with the addition of $50 million. The UK- and Australian-based drug discovery company will use the cash to support an ongoing phase 1/2 clinical trial for immuno-oncology candidate GRWD5769, which is in development for solid tumors. R&D will also be expanded into autoimmune diseases. Initial data for GRWD5769 will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting next month. Release

 

May 21—AltruBio

Series: B
Amount: Up to $225 million
Investors: BVF Partners LP, RA Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, Soleus Capital, aMoon Fund and Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing, plus other unnamed investors.

AltruBio has secured up to $225 million in a series B funding designed to take an immune checkpoint enhancer, dubbed ALTB-268, through a midphase ulcerative colitis program. According to AltruBio, the prospect has shown potency in down-regulating chronic pathogenic T cells in preclinical and early human tests. AltruBio put ALTB-268 through a phase 1 study in healthy volunteers in 2023, leading to the initiation of a midphase study in patients with ulcerative colitis who are refractory to biologics. The biotech expects to report data on the primary clinical remission endpoint in the first half of 2025. Story

 

May 20—Progentos Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $65 million
Investors: Led by Forbion with Alta Partners, Mission BioCapital, Longwood Fund and Dolby Family Ventures.

Progentos Therapeutics has snagged $65 million to develop small molecule drugs to induce the remyelination of axons that are affected by multiple sclerosis. The company hopes to actually restore function in patients with MS and will use the funds to advance a program into human testing, as well as develop a deeper pipeline of degenerative disease drugs. Release

 

May 13—Lycia Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $106.6 million
Investors: Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace and Franklin Templeton, and existing investors Redmile Group, RTW Investments, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities (formerly Cowen Healthcare Investments), Invus, Eli Lilly and Company and Alexandria Venture Investments. 

Lycia Therapeutics has secured an oversubscribed series C, reeling in $106.6 million to support the company's next-gen degradation approach leveraging lysosomal targeting chimeras. The biotech, which launched in 2019 in collaboration with academic founder and Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., will use the series C cash to move its lead programs into the clinic for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Release

 

May 13—Ajax Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $95 million
Investors: Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Eli Lilly and Company, Vivo Capital, RA Capital Management, Point72, EcoR1 Capital, Boxer Capital, Schrödinger and Inning One Ventures. 

With participation from Big Pharma Eli Lilly, Ajax has raised an oversubscribed $95 million series C to further its mission of developing next-gen JAK inhibitors for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). More specifically, the new cash will go toward the biotech's lead program, a type II JAK2 inhibitor dubbed AJ1‑11095, for myelofibrosis. In preclinical studies, AJ1-11095 maintained efficacy against MPN cells that become resistant to chronic type I JAK2 inhibition, according to Ajax. Release

 

May 9—Bluejay Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $182 million
Investors: Frazier Life Sciences, an unnamed life science-focused investment firm, RA Capital Management, T. Rowe Price, Wellington Management, Novo Holdings, RiverVest Venture Partners, Octagon Capital, Arkin Bio Ventures, HBM Healthcare Investments and Unicorn Capital

Bluejay has raised $182 million to advance a pipeline of treatments for viral liver conditions, with a lead asset targeting chronic hepatitis D and hepatitis B. Lead asset BJT-778 has received PRIME designation from European regulators based on phase 1/2 data in patients with hepatitis D. Bluejay is also working on a handful of other HBV-related assets, including clinical-stage cavrotolimod. Frazier General Partner Daniel Estes joined the company's board as part of the deal. Release

 

May 9—Attovia Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $105 million
Investors: Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Cormorant Asset Management, Nextech Ventures, Redmile Group, EcoR1 Capital, Marshall Wace, and Logos Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, venBio and Illumina Ventures. 

Immunology and inflammatory-focused biotechs are continuing to see significant interest, with Attovia the latest to draw in more than $100 million in financing. The company closed a $105 million series B to advance a pipeline of biologics tackling immune-mediated conditions. Lead asset ATTO-1310 is set to enter the clinic around the end of 2024 to treat atopic dermatitis and other pruritic diseases. Attovia plans to nominate a candidate for runner-up asset ATTO-002 in the second half of the year and file an IND in 2025. Colin Walsh, Ph.D., managing director of the life science team within Goldman Sachs Alternatives, has joined the board. Release

 

May 9—Aardvark Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $85 million
Investors: Decheng Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Surveyor Capital, SymBiosis, Tetragon Financial Group, Walleye Capital, Laurion Capital Management, LG Technology Ventures, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Silver Arc Private Capital, The Prader-Willi Syndrome Association – USA, Vickers Venture Partners and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research.

Aardvark Therapeutics has cashed in on metabolic mania with an $85 million series C round, ahead of an anticipated IPO. The pre-Wall Street financing ticks off the first box from a Financial Times report in late March detailing the company's plans. The outlet reported then that Aardvark was planning one last private financing between $75-100 million before an IPO in the late July timeframe. Aardvark is reportedly being advised by Cantor Fitzgerald, who participated in this latest round. It also has backing from Decheng Capital, which helped lead CG Oncology's successful IPO listing back in January. Release

 

May 7—Zenas BioPharma

Series: C
Amount: $200 million
Investors: SR One, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, Delos Capital, Enavate Sciences, Longitude Capital, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, Arrowmark Partners, Fairmount, Wellington Management, Rock Springs Capital, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Vivo Capital, Quan Venture Fund and Superstring Capital. 

Zenas BioPharma has secured $200 million—the biotech's second consecutive nine-digit haul. The series C extends Zenas' cash runway another 18 months through a raft of key readouts for its lead monoclonal antibody obexelimab, which is being developed to treat a range of autoimmune diseases. Story

 

May 7—Prologue Medicines

Series: N/A
Amount: $50 million
Investors: Flagship Pioneering

The next chapter in the Flagship saga is Prologue Medicines, with the firm making an “initial commitment” of $50 million in the viral proteome-focused biotech. Prologue is touting its DELVE Platform as containing the largest known database of viral protein structures, and the company is launching with an initial focus on immunological, oncology and metabolic indications.

“The viral proteome dwarfs the human proteome by orders of magnitude, enabling us to reveal a trove of powerful new proteins that can be used as medicines across nearly any therapeutic area,” Prologue’s CEO and co-founder Lovisa Afzelius, Ph.D., who is also an Origination Partner at Flagship, said in the release.

 

May 2—BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics 

Series: N/A
Amount: $200 million
Investors: BridgeBio Pharma

BridgeBio Pharma has secured $200 million to equip its cancer-focused offshoot BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, formerly known as TheRas. The company currently has one asset in the clinic—a KRAS G12C inhibitor dubbed BBO-8520 that is being evaluated in non-small cell lung cancer—and two approaching human testing. The newly launched phase 1 study, which will test BBO-8520 as a single agent and in combination with Keytruda, puts the program years behind approved KRAS drugs sold by Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb. But BBOT and its backers believe BBO-8520 could lead to better efficacy. Story

 

May 2—Reunion Neuroscience

Series: A
Amount: $103 million
Investors: MPM BioImpact, Novo Holdings, Arkin Bio Capital, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment, Plaisance Capital, FemHealth Ventures and Palo Santo. 

Reunion has gathered up $103 million, building on the promise of a phase 2-stage psychedelic prodrug being developed as a potential treatment for postpartum depression. The round was led by Novo Holdings and MPM BioImpact, the latter of which acquired Reunion in August 2023. The company touts lead asset, RE104, which replicates the effects of the magic mushroom extract psilocybin in about half the time. Story

 

May 2—Delphia Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $67 million
Investors: GV, Nextech Invest, Polaris Innovation Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments. 

Delphia has emerged with a vision to pioneer a new cancer biology approach called "activation lethality." The company's platform science is designed to create differentiated first-in-class medicines that aim to better control oncogenic pathways and create better durability for patients across several cancer types. Release

 

April

April 30—Enlaza Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $100 million
Investors: J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Frazier Life Sciences, Avalon Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Samsara BioCapital, Amgen Ventures, Regeneron Ventures, Bregua Corporation, Pappas Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Private Capital life sciences group led the series A for Enlaza Therapeutics, a new biotech working on protein drugs via the covalent biologic platform War-LockTM. The company already has preclinical data for a handful of oncology candidates. Release

 

April 24—Xaira

Series: Unknown
Amount: $1 billion
Investors: ARCH Venture Partners, Foresite Labs, F-Prime, NEA, Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Byers Capital, Rsquared, and SV Angel, among others. 

Incubated by Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Labs, Xaira has unveiled with an eye-watering $1 billion and Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., former chief scientific officer at Genentech, at the helm. The newly emerged company will combine machine learning, data generation and therapeutic product development to build a platform for drug discovery. The company was co-founded by David Baker, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Part of the new company includes technologies and personnel who were spun out of Illumina’s functional genomics R&D effort, plus a proteomics group from Interline Therapeutics. Story 

 

April 24—Endeavor BioMedicines

Series: C
Amount: $132.5 Million 
Investors: AyurMaya (an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management), Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, SymBiosis, Velosity Capital, and Woodline Partners; abrdn Inc. (formerly Tekla Capital Management), Ally Bridge Group, Avidity Partners, Eckuity Capital, Longitude Capital, Omega Funds, Perceptive Advisors, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, Silver Arch Bio and T. Rowe Price Associates.  

Endeavor has snagged $132.5 in an oversubscribed series C, stretching the company's cash runway through 2026. The financing follows a $101 million series B that closed two years ago. Money will be channeled into lead asset ENV-101, which is designed to block a cellular wound-healing pathway known as Hedgehog. Phase 2a data set to be presented at the American Thoracic Society annual meeting show that no patients treated with ENV-101 had signs of disease progression, compared to two given placebo, according to a presentation abstract. The additional cash will also pay for clinical testing of Endeavor’s second asset, an HER-3-targeting ADC acquired from Hummingbird Bioscience. A phase 1/2 trial is slated for the middle of the year, right around the time ENV-101 begins its phase 2b study. Story 

 

April 22—SynOx Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $75 million
Investors: Financing co-led by Forbion, HealthCap and new investor Bioqube Ventures.

Ireland and England-based SynOx has secured a $75 million series B financing, money that will go toward launching a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial for emactuzumab, SynOx's CSF-1(R) inhibiting monoclonal antibody designed to treat tenosynovial giant cell tumor. The chronic disease is a type of tumor impacting the soft tissue lining of joints and tendons. Release

 

April 18—Corner Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $54 million
Investors: Ziff Capital Partners, Cockrell Interests, Tanis Ventures, Sandia Holdings

Corner Therapeutics has closed a $54 million series A to fund the development of lifelong vaccines against cancer and infectious disease. Its coffers also include grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is specifically funding the startup's work against HIV. Corner's tech harnesses T cell-priming immune cells called dendritic cells for a more powerful, precise and durable T cell response to vaccines. Preclinical data has shown that its approach jumpstarts immunity against cancer and infections, even in older or immunocompromised animals. The funding will be used to move its two mRNA-based vaccine platforms to the clinic, with the first in-human study expected next year. Release

 

April 18—Metsera

Series: Seed/A
Amount: $290 million
Investors: Arch Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, GV, Mubadala Capital, Newpath Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and other undisclosed investors.  

Founded in 2022, Metsera has emerged from stealth with $290 million and hopes of ushering in the next generation of obesity and metabolic disease treatments. The biotech's injectable and oral development programs are made up of peptides and peptide-antibody conjugates, two of which are clinical-stage assets. One of those programs is an undisclosed molecule, while the other is an injectable, fully biased GLP-1 receptor agonist being assessed in a phase 1 clinical trial. The asset is designed to trounce competitors in duration of effect and is currently being tested out among non-diabetic patients. The U.S. trial is currently enrolling participants. Story

 

April 16—Asher Bio

Series: C
Amount: $55 million
Investors: RA Capital Management, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, Janus Henderson Investors, Third Rock Ventures, Wellington Management, Boxer Capital and other undisclosed institutional investors.  

With two big pharmas in tow, Asher Bio has closed a $55 million series C to support the mission of developing precisely-targeted therapies for cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases. More specifically, the new cash will go toward advancing the biotech's lead program, dubbed AB248, a CD8+ T cell selective IL-2 currently being assessed in a phase 1a/1b clinical trial. The asset is being tested out as a monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda among patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors who have received prior PD1 or PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor treatment. Release

 

April 10—TORL BioTherapeutics

Series: B2
Amount: $158 million
Investors: Deep Track Capital, RA Capital Management, Perceptive Advisors, Avidity Partners, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, UC Investments, Bristol Myers Squibb, Vertex Ventures HC, Moore Strategic Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities and Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund.

TORL BioTherapeutics is the latest biotech to benefit from the ADC boom, bringing in $158 million in an oversubscribed "B2" financing round. The newest funds brings the biotech's total raised to $350 million since launching in 2019. The cash will go toward the Los Angeles-based company's several ADCs already in the clinic, as well as other planned studies. TORL's lead asset, dubbed TORL-1-23, is a new therapy designed to treat CLDN 6+ platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The candidate is currently being tested out in a phase 1 study, with TORL preparing to launch a phase 2 study later this year. Story 

 

April 9—Seaport Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $100 million
Investors: ARCH Venture Partners, Sofinnova Investments and Third Rock Ventures.

Karuna creator PureTech is back to launch another biotech. New company Seaport Therapeutics has emerged with an oversubscribed $100 million series A to develop certain clinical-stage neuropsychiatric medicines from PureTech. After the series A round, PureTech will have 61.5% equity ownership in Seaport on a diluted basis. Meanwhile, PureTech's founding CEO Daphne Zoha will take the reins of the brand new biotech. Story

 

April 3—Alterome Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $132 million
Investors: Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Canaan Partners, Invus, Driehaus Capital Management, Digitalis Ventures, Blue Owl Capital, Orbimed, Nextech Invest, Vida Ventures, Boxer Capital and Colt Ventures.

California-based Alterome has closed a $132 million series B, cash that will go toward the development of next-gen, small molecule targeted oncology therapies. More specifically, the new funds will be used to help push two programs into the clinic over the next year: a highly specific AKT1 E17K inhibitor and a KRAS selective inhibitor. Underpinning Alterome's pipeline is its Kraken platform, a structure-guided machine learning approach to drug discovery. Release

 

April 3—Neurosterix 

Series: N/A
Amount: $63 million
Investors: Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund II, Perceptive Life Sciences Fund and Acorn Bioventures. 

Addex Therapeutics and funds associated with Perceptive Advisors have launched new biotech Neurosterix, a company designed to develop allosteric modulators to treat underserved neurological disorders. Swiss biotech Addex is giving the new company a portfolio of preclinical assets and its allosteric modulator drug discovery platform in exchange for 5 million Swiss francs ($5.5 million) and a 20% equity interest in Neurosterix. The spinout will slash operating costs for Addex as Neurosterix aims to move those preclinical programs into the clinic, according to Addex CEO Tim Dyer. Release

 

April 3—Diagonal Therapeutics

Series: N/A
Amount: $128 million
Investors: BVF Partners, Atlas Venture, Lightspeed Venture Partners, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences, Viking Global Investors, Velosity Capital and Checkpoint Capital.

Diagonal Therapeutics has raised $128 million to advance its antibody agonist-building platform, with an early pipeline of four assets already in the works. Two of the candidates are aimed at inherited bleeding disorder hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), respectively. CEO Alex Lugovskoy, Ph.D., an entrepreneur-in-residence at Atlas, previously held leadership roles at Dragonfly Therapeutics and Morphic Therapeutic. He told Fierce the company plans to grow its headcount in the single-digits as it builds out a clinical development team. Story

 

April 3—Obsidian Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $160 million
Investors: Wellington Management, Foresite Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Novo Holdings, Paradigm BioCapital, RTW Investments, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Woodline Partners LP, Atlas Venture, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deep Track Capital, Logos Capital, RA Capital Management, TCGX, Samsara BioCapital and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company). 

Obsidian has sharpened its financial standing by cashing in on an oversubscribed $160 million series C. The raise adds momentum to drug developers working on T-cell therapies, after Iovance nabbed FDA approval for its tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte in February. Like Iovance, Obsidian's lead asset, OBX-115, is being targeted at patients with melanoma in addition to non-small cell lung cancer. The biotech also lists a "next-generation TIL" in the discovery stage of its pipeline, but a target or indication has not been disclosed. Release

 

March

 

March 26—Avenzo Therapeutics

Series: A-1
Amount: $150 million
Investors: New Enterprise Associates, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Investments, Sands Capital, INCE Capital, TF Capital, Delos Capital and Quan Capital.  

Avenzo is adding on an oversubscribed $150 million A-1 financing, bringing the biotech's total capital raised since emerging in 2022 to $347 million. The new cash will be funneled into Avenzo’s oncology pipeline, including lead asset AVZO-021, a potentially best-in-class cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) selective inhibitor currently being assessed in a phase 1 clinical trial for patients with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer and other advanced solid tumors. Release

 

March 21—Mirador Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $400 million
Investors: ARCH Venture Partners, OrbiMed, Fairmount, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Point72, Farallon Capital Management, Boxer Capital, TCGX, Invus, Logos Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Sanofi Ventures, Woodline Partners LP, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, RTW Investments and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Move over Alumis, there's a new top financing in town. Mirador Therapeutics has secured a massive $400 million series A funding round—the biggest of 2024 thus far. The new biotech aims to develop precision medicines for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, with an initial focus on gastrointestinal tract, lung and skin diseases, CEO Mark McKenna told Fierce Biotech. The former Prometheus Biosciences leader, along with a team from Prometheus, have formed a new enterprise around the Mirador360 platform—technology that uses data from millions of patient molecular profiles to find genetic targets for immuno-fibrotic diseases.  

The eye-popping $400 will, of course, be used to advance multiple internal programs into the clinic, but McKenna is also looking for deals that Mirador could “supercharge” with its precision medicine approach. Story

 

March 20—Capstan Therapeutics

Series: B 
Amount: $175 million
Investors: RA Capital Management, Forbion, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Mubadala Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Sofinnova Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Leaps by Bayer, Novartis Venture Fund, OrbiMed, Pfizer Ventures, Polaris Partners, and Vida Ventures

Capstan Therapeutics has reeled in another seismic round, bagging $175 million from an oversubscribed series B that will help advance the biotech's in vivo CAR-T pipeline. Joining this round was Johnson & Johnson, the sixth pharma venture fund to buy into Capstan. It's a who's who of investors around them, including RA Capital, OrbiMed and Sofinnova. Recognizing the shifting cell therapy landscape, the company says the proceeds will help finance a proof of concept trial for lead asset CPTX2309 in autoimmune disorders. Forbion General Partner Nanna Luneborg, Ph.D., is joining Capstan's board of directors following the raise. Release

 

March 20—Clasp Therapeutics

Series: A 
Amount: $150 million
Investors: Catalio Capital Management, Third Rock Ventures, Novo Holdings, Vivo Capital, Cure Ventures, Blackbird BioVentures, Pictet Alternative Advisors, American Cancer Society’s Bright Edge and Alexandria Venture Investments

Immuno-oncology's next act appears centered on T-cell engagers, and investors are flocking. Clasp Therapeutics is the latest to rake in big bucks, unveiling with $150 million backed by the likes of Novo Holdings, Third Rock and Catalio. The biotech touts the specificity of its bispecific antibody-like molecules, which use a patient's human leukocyte antigen immune signature as the matching code. The company says that its technology lends itself to treating patients with tumor mutations that override existing immunotherapies. The bispecific T-cell engager space has ascended as of late, with a number of biotech suitors chasing Amgen's BiTE platform. Story

 

March 19—Engrail Therapeutics

Series: B 
Amount: $157 million
Investors:  F-Prime Capital, Forbion, Norwest Venture Partners, RiverVest Venture Partners, Red Tree Venture Capital, funds managed by abrdn Inc., Ysios Capital, Longwood Fund, Eight Roads Ventures, and Pivotal Life Sciences

Engrail Therapeutics is dousing fuel on a growing flame of investment warming the neuropsychiatric space. The company closed a $157 million series B to help fund further clinical development, particularly for phase 2-stage anxiety med, ENX-102. The biotech is also readying two more preclinical assets for human studies, with the therapies aimed at depression and PTSD, respectively. A third preclinical candidate, ENX-103, is in development for Menkes disease. The sizeable raise propels Engrail's cash runway into roughly the middle of 2026, about a year after the company expects topline data from the ENX-102 study. Story

 

March 14—Tubulis

Series: B2 
Amount: 128 million euros ($138.8 million)
Investors: EQT Life Sciences, Nextech Invest Ltd, Frazier Life Sciences, Deep Track Capital, Andera Partners, BioMedPartners, Fund+, Bayern Kapital (with ScaleUp-Fonds Bayern), Evotec, coparion, Seventure Partners, OCCIDENT and High-Tech Gründerfonds.  

The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) craze shows no signs of stopping soon, with Tubulis pulling in nearly $140 million in an upsized series B2 for its preclinical ADC pipeline. The cash infusion will be used to help Tubulis enter the clinic for one of the biotech's two lead candidates: TUB-040 and TUB-030. The former focuses on the tumor-antigen Napi2b, a well-known area of interest for ovarian and lung cancer that is also the target of Mersana and GSK’s investigational ADC UpRi. Tubulis’ other lead asset, TUB-030, targets the protein 5T4, an antigen often overexpressed in solid tumors. Tubulis is preparing to present preclinical proof-of-concept data for the two ADCs at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research next month. Story

 

March 6—Alumis  

Series: C 
Amount: $259 million 
Investors: Foresite Capital, Samsara BioCapital, venBio Partners, Cormorant Asset Management, SR One, Lilly Asia Ventures, Nextech, Ally Bridge Group, HBM Healthcare Investments, Omega Funds, Piper Heartland Healthcare and existing investors AyurMaya, an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management and a U.S.-based healthcare-focused fund.  

Alumis has taken the crown for the largest private biotech haul of 2024—for now. The biotech has raised an eye-popping $259 million series C financing that will support a pipeline of oral therapies designed to tackle immune dysfunction and help launch a phase 3 psoriasis trial for lead asset ESK-001. The series C even tops Alumis’ own $200 million series B in 2022, which followed a $70 million series A in 2021, when the company went by the name Esker Therapeutics.    

The California-based biotech is going to use the new cash to start pivotal phase 3 trials for ESK-001, an allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor, in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in the second half of this year. Alumis plans to share efficacy and safety data from a phase 2 study evaluating ESK-001, dubbed STRIDE, on March 9 at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting. Story

 

March 6—Sionna Therapeutics 

Series: C
Amount: $182 million 
Investors: Enavate Sciences, Viking Global Investors, Perceptive Advisors, RA Capital, OrbiMed, TPG's The Rise Fund, Atlas Venture, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Q Healthcare Holdings, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of QIA. 

Sionna has raised a $182 million series C, enough to last through 2026 and more than double the company's cystic fibrosis treatments in clinical development. The biotech's lead candidate, a NBD1 inhibitor, will have interim phase 1 data coming out in the next few months. The asset is one of three NBD1 inhibitors in development, with the other two set to enter the clinic before the end of the year. Story

 

March 4—Nocion Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $62 million 
Investors: Arkin Bio Capital, Monograph Capital, Canaan Partners, F-Prime Capital, Mass General Brigham Ventures, Mission BioCapital and Osage University Partners.  

Nocion has reeled in a $62 million series B, bringing the company's total raised to $122 million since emerging in 2018. The new funds will go toward developing small molecule, permanently charged sodium channel blockers (CSCBs), called nocions, for treating conditions involving cough, itch, and pain. Specifically, the cash will be funneled into Nocion's lead program—taplucanium dry powder for inhalation—in a phase 2b study for chronic cough. Release

 

March 1—FogPharma

Series: E 
Amount: $145 million 
Investors: Nextech Invest, RA Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, Samsara Biocapital, Foresite Capital, Symbiosis, Catalio Capital Management, Sixty Degree Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, GV, Cormorant Asset Management, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Farallon Capital Management, venBio Partners, Invus, Milky Way Investment and Alex Gorsky. 

FogPharma has raised $145 million in a series E that has plenty of big name investors in tow, including former chair and CEO of Johnson & Johnson Alex Gorsky. The cash will be used on clinical development and commercialization strategy for FOG-001, an intracellular TCF-blocking β-catenin inhibitor being tested in a phase 1/2 trial for solid tumors. Mutations of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which the drug targets, are particularly common in colorectal cancer. Story

 

February

Feb. 29—BlossomHill Therapeutics

Series: B 
Amount: $100 million 
Investors: Colt Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, OrbiMed, Vivo Capital, Hercules BioVentures Partners LLC, Plaisance Capital Management LLC, H&D Asset Management and others.  

BlossomHill has raised $100 million in a series B, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $173 million so far. The biotech will use the cash to develop a pipeline of medicines for multiple high-need cancers and autoimmune diseases. Dubbed a “drug design company,” BlossomHill wants to extend life expectancy and quality of life for patients, combining proven drug design efforts—such as CEO J. Jean Cui's own—and creativity to develop small molecule drugs. Story

 

Feb. 29—Kenai Therapeutics  

Series: A 
Amount: $82 million 
Investors: Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, Cure Ventures and The Column Group, Euclidean Capital and Saisei Ventures. 

Kenai Therapeutics, formerly known as Ryne Bio, has pulled in $82 million for its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology. The tech is being used to discover and develop a platform of allogeneic neuron replacement cell therapies for neurological disorders. The biotech's lead asset, dubbed RNDP-001, is a dopamine progenitor designed to treat Parkinson’s disease. The company will use the new funds to advance the preclinical asset into the clinic. Release

 

Feb. 27—Curve Therapeutics  

Series: A 
Amount: £40.5 million 
Investors: Pfizer Ventures, Columbus Venture Partners, British Patient Capital, Advent Life Sciences and Epidarex Capital. 

England-based Curve Therapeutics has circled up £40.5 million ($51.3 million), money that will be used to build out the biotech's proprietary discovery platform and advance a preclinical pipeline designed to tackle challenging cancer targets into the clinic. Curve's assets include a first-in-class dual-inhibitor of HIF-1 and HIF-2 designed to address mechanisms in more than half of solid tumors, and a first-in-class inhibitor of ATIC dimerization that targets a key vulnerability found in several cancers. Release

 

Feb. 22—Frontier Medicines

Series: C
Amount: $80 million 
Investors: Deerfield Management Company, Droia Ventures, Galapagos NV, DCVC Bio, MPM Capital and RA Capital Management. 

Frontier has closed a $80 million fundraising round, but CEO Chris Varma, Ph.D., told Fierce Biotech that corralling the capital was harder than the bleakest days of the Great Recession. He attributed the difficulty in part to the tech sector beginning its recovery last year, drawing in early-stage investors while drug developers clawed for new money. 

In conjunction with the financing, Frontier has dosed the first patient in a phase 1/2 trial testing lead asset FMC-376 in patients with solid tumors. The new money will go toward advancing that trial and other follow-up candidates. Story

 

Feb. 15—Firefly Bio

Series: A
Amount: $94 million 
Investors: Versant Ventures, MPM BioImpact, Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly & Co.

Firefly has broken stealth, debuting with $94 million and a novel platform to develop degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs), which combine antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with protein degraders to create a new class of therapies to fight cancer. The company will focus on solid tumor targets that have already been validated in the clinic, specifically targets that have run up against dose-limiting toxicities and could use a more precise approach. Story

 

Feb. 14—Latigo Biotherapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $135 million 
Investors: Westlake Village BioPartners, 5AM Ventures, Foresite Capital and Corner Ventures

Love was in the air for Latigo Biotherapeutics, which came out of stealth on Valentine's Day with $135 million. The company is chasing Vertex in the non-opioid pain race, tackling the same target as VTX-548. The drug was better than placebo at reducing pain intensity in a recently-reported phase 3 trial but failed to beat Vicodin, the standard of care. Westlake's founding managing partner Sean Harper, M.D., acknowledged that beating opioids is a tall task but that Latigo's molecule, LTG-001, could differentiate from Vertex's in safety and in treating chronic pain. 

Westlake founded the company in 2020 and has been incubating it since, hiring a number of scientists from Amgen after the pharma divested from neuroscience in late 2019. LTG-001 is currently in a phase 1 trial with healthy volunteers but plains to launch a phase 2 acute pain trial before the end of the year. The company also expects to launch its second molecule into the clinic in the near future, according to interim CEO Desmond Padhi. Story

 

Feb. 14—NextPoint Therapeutics

Series: B extension
Amount: $42.5 million
Investors: Catalio Capital Management, Arkin Holdings, WTT investment, MPM BioImpact, Leaps by Bayer, Sanofi Ventures, Invus, Sixty Degree Capital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Binney Street Capital and NextPoint founder Gordon Freeman, Ph.D.  

February has been good to NextPoint. Two weeks after announcing Eisai’s Ivan Cheung as CEO, the biotech has pulled in $42.5 million in a series B extension round, bringing the series total to $122.5 million. The money will go toward the company’s two immuno-oncology clinical programs, NPX267 and NPX887, as well as advance development of potential candidates that could target the HHLA2 tumor antigen. The biotech aims to use the HHLA2 pathway to deliver therapies for cancer patients who don't benefit from PD-1/L1 inhibitors. Release

 

Feb. 13—BioAge Labs

Series: D
Amount: $170 million
Investors: Sofinnova Investments, Longitude Capital, RA Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, RTW Investments, SV Health Investors, OrbiMed Advisors, Sands Capital, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Osage University Partners, Lilly Ventures, Amgen Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health

BioAge is rocketing into the new year $170 million richer thanks to a series D financing that adds a who's who of blue chip healthcare investors to the biotech's syndicate. Sofinnova led the financing and was joined by the likes of OrbiMed and RA Capital, which CEO Kristen Fortney, Ph.D., says puts the company in a good position to go public in the future, should that make the most sense. There's plenty of time to land on a future fundraising strategy, given that the new funds extend BioAge's runway into late 2026, at least. 

The humongous financing was fueled by BioAge's entrance into the obesity space, validated by a collaboration with Lilly announced last year. The money will help pay for a phase 2 trial testing BioAge's lead asset, azelaprag, in combination with Lilly's tirzepatide (marketed as Zepbound) in patients with obesity. Exploratory endpoints in the trial while assess body composition, which, if positive, would further boost azelaprag and BioAge's profile. Story

 

Feb. 13—ProfoundBio

Series: B
Amount: $112 million
Investors: Ally Bridge Group, T. Rowe Price Associates, Janus Henderson Investors, RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, Surveyor Capital, Medicxi, Logos Capital, Octagon Capital, Piper Heartland Healthcare Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures and LYFE Capital.

With Big Pharmas heading into 2024 with a renewed interest in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), it’s no surprise that ProfoundBio managed to assemble a who’s who of biotech investors for an oversubscribed series B round. Profound’s three clinical-stage ADCs are headed up by Rina-S, which is targeted at folate receptor-alpha and is in phase 2 trials for ovarian and endometrial cancers, with pivotal studies in ovarian cancer in the works for later this year.

Profound, which has operations in both Seattle and Suzhou, China, also has two ADCs in phase 1 trials. An initial readout from a study of a CD70-targeted ADC called PRO1160 is due later in 2024, to be followed next year by results from PRO1107, a protein tyrosine kinase 7-targeted therapy. This year may also see a bispecific ADC called PRO1286 enter the clinic. Story

 

Feb. 13—Areteia Therapeutics

Series: A extension
Amount: $75 million
Investors: Viking Global Investors, Marshall Wace, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Access Biotechnology, GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Saturn Partners, Sanofi, Maverick Capital, Population Health Partners.

Having secured $350 million in an initial series A raise back in 2022, Areteia is topping up that haul with an additional $75 million. The North Carolina-based biotech will use the funds to continue to push ahead with its oral small molecule dexpramipexole, which is already in three phase 3 trials for eosinophilic asthma.

Specifically, the top-up funding has been ear-marked for clinical development in Japan and some other global markets, as well as stepping up manufacturing activities and working on a once-daily formulation of dexpramipexole. Release

 

Feb. 8—Neurona Therapeutics

Series: E 
Amount: $120 million 
Investors: Viking Global Investors, Cormorant Asset Management, The Column Group, LYFE Capital, Schroders Capital, Willett Advisors, Ysios Capital Partners, Euclidean Capital, SymBiosis, Alexandria Venture Investments, Berkeley Frontier Fund, Sphera Biotech Master Fund LP, Spur Capital Partners, UCB Ventures and UC Investments.

Almost a year ago to the day, Neurona was cutting staff, citing a difficult funding environment. Fast forward to today, and the company has reeled in $120 million after a positive early readout for epilepsy cell therapy NRTX-1001. The cash will help accelerate Neurona's phase 1/2 trial to a higher dose level this year, then move into bilateral MTLE, which means epilepsy that is impacting both sides of the brain. Story 

 

January

Jan. 30—Basking Biosciences

Series: N/A
Amount: $55 million
Investors: ARCH Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Platanus, Solas BioVentures, RTW Investments, Longview Ventures, Rev1 Ventures and Ohio State University.  

Basking Biosciences has closed a $55 million fundraise led by new investor ARCH Venture Partners. The Ohio-based company will use the new money to accelerate clinical development of BB-031, a first-in-class, reversible RNA aptamer targeting von Willebrand Factor (vWF), a protein in the blood. The company plans to launch a phase 2 proof-of-concept trial this year to assess the candidate among patients with acute ischemic stroke. Release

 

Jan. 30—COUR Pharmaceuticals

Series: A
Amount: $105 million
Investors: Co-led by Lumira Ventures and Alpha Wave Ventures, with Roche Venture Fund, the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative, Bristol Myers Squibb, Angelini Ventures and the JDRF T1D Fund

A trio of Big Pharmas pitched into a $105 million series A round for COUR Pharmaceuticals, a biotech developing disease modifying therapies for immune-mediated diseases. Roche Venture Fund, the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative and Bristol Myers Squibb joined the round, led by Lumira Ventures and Alpha Wave Ventures. COUR plans to use the cash to advance its immune tolerance platform, including phase 2a studies in myasthenia gravis and type 1 diabetes. COUR also has partnered programs with Takeda in celiac disease and Ironwood in primary biliary cholangitis. Release

 

Jan. 29—Eyconis

Series: A
Amount: $150 million
Investors: Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, venBio and HealthQuest Capital

Ascendis Pharma is focusing on endocrinology and oncology, handing over its eye disease work to new venture Eyconis. The new biotech will be based in Redwood City, California, with some Ascendis employees expected to join the team. Ascendis will have an undisclosed amount of equity in Eyconis and stands to make up to $248 million in biobucks should the assets thrive and reach the market. Story

 

Jan. 24—Synnovation Therapeutics 

Series: A
Amount: $102 million
Investors: Third Rock Ventures, Nextech, Lilly Asia Ventures, Sirona Capital and Cormorant Asset Management

Synnovation Therapeutics, founded by Incyte vets Wenqing Yao, Ph.D., and Liangxing Wu, Ph.D., has pulled in $102 million to develop competitors to approved cancer drugs from AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis and Pfizer. Armed with medical chemistry expertise that contributed to Incyte products such as Olumiant, Pemazyre and Tabrecta, the pair have worked to create better molecules against validated targets, namely PARP and PI3K. 

Synnovation plans to start dosing patients in a phase 1 clinical trial of its brain-penetrating challenger, SNV1521, in the coming weeks. In preclinical tests, the biotech showed the molecule has greater than 500-fold selectivity against PARP2 and is more effective at inhibiting tumor growth than Lynparza. Story

 

Jan. 23—Calluna Pharma

Series: A
Amount: 75 million euros ($81 million)
Investors: Forbion, Sarsia, p53 and Investinor 

Oxitope Pharma and Arxx Therapeutics have merged to form Calluna, a new biotech that touts a current pipeline of four selective antibodies targeting inflammatory and fibrotic indications. The company's lead program, sourced from Arxx and now dubbed CAL101, is a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes the bioactivity of S100A4, a DAMP protein tied to conditions such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic kidney disease, systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and severe forms of asthma. The series A round was financed by Oxitope and Arxx’s existing lead investors. Release

 

Jan. 23—Accent Therapeutics

Series: C
Amount: $75 million 
Investors: Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson Innovation–JJDC, The Column Group, Atlas Venture, Droia Ventures, GV, EcoR1 Capital, AbbVie Ventures, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, Timefolio Capital and others.  

RNA drug developer Accent will use the new series C funds to further develop the company’s two lead small molecules, targeting DHX9 and KIF18A, respectively. Accent’s plan is to formally ask regulators to enter human trials for both programs before the end of the year and put each in phase 1 studies by early 2025. Story

 

Jan. 17—Comanche Biopharma

Series: B
Amount: $75 million 
Investors: GV (Google Ventures), F-Prime Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), Longview Healthcare Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Atlas Venture

Comanche has snagged $75 million to advance the preeclampsia treatment CBP-4888 through the clinic. Preeclampsia is a blood pressure condition that affects roughly 10 million pregnant people globally each year. It often manifests after the 20th week of pregnancy and can endanger the mother and baby. Comanche's lead asset is targeting what is believed to be an underlying cause of the disease, overproduction of the sFlt1 protein by the placenta, which can cause vascular damage of the mother and prompt premature delivery. Comanche has already completed a phase 1 study in healthy volunteers and plans to use the new cash to launch a phase 2 trial in pregnant preeclamptic patients later this year. As part of the financing, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., is joining the board. Release

 

Jan. 17—Ratio Therapeutics

Series: B
Amount: $50 million 
Investors: Schusterman and Duquesne, PagsGroup, Bristol Myers Squibb and the Center for Technology Licensing at Cornell University

Radiopharmaceutical biotech Ratio is $50 million richer after its latest financing, adding Bristol Myers Squibb as a new investor. The money will go towards expanding the use of the company's two main platforms, Trillium and Macropa, while also helping advance a lead radiopharmaceutical asset aimed at fibroblast activation protein-alpha (FAP). The company's full pipeline has yet to be unveiled but CEO Jack Hoppin said in a release that Ratio has filed two investigational new drug applications and completed enrollment in two radiation dosimetry studies. Release

 

Jan. 17—Tr1x

Series: A
Amount: $75 million 
Investors: The Column Group, NEVA SGR and Alexandria Ventures

Tr1x has emerged from stealth with $75 million to design regulatory T-cell-based therapies to treat diseases in inflammation and immunology. The biotech was based on science from Maria Grazia Roncarolo, M.D., who's discovery of type 1 Tregs could pave new ground in the cell therapy field. Tr1x's first asset, TRX103, will soon be tested in a phase 1 trial to prevent graft versus host disease in patients undergoing mismatched bone marrow transplants. More programs are also in the works targeting Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and "multiple B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases." Release

 

Jan. 5—Lykos Therapeutics

Series: A
Amount: $100 million 
Investors: Helena, the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation (led by Alex Cohen), Eir Therapeutics, Vine Ventures, True Ventures, Unlikely Collaborators Foundation, The Joe and Sandy Samberg Foundation, Bail Capital, KittyHawk Ventures and Satori Neuro. 

MAPS PBC, a spin out out of its parent organization MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), has rebranded to Lykos Therapeutics. The rebranding and nine-digit raise add more fuel to the growing flame of interest in psychedelics and their chemical analogs among investors and biotechs. Story

 

Jan. 4—Claris Bio

Series: A
Amount: $57 million 
Investors: Novo Holdings A/S, RA Capital, Mass General Brigham Ventures and Janus Henderson Investors

A new biotech has emerged with $57 million in hand to tackle corneal disease. Claris Bio broke stealth cover Thursday, led by Clarke Atwell. The company, initially funded in 2020, is developing CSB-001 as a topical ocular biologic solution to restore structural and functional corneal integrity to eyes with neurotrophic keratopathy. Release 

 

Jan. 4—Moonwalk Biosciences

Series: A
Amount: $57 million
Investors: Alpha Wave Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Future Ventures, GV, Khosla Ventures and YK Bioventures

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard's CRISPR gene editing legend Feng Zhang, Ph.D., is the scientific backer of Moonwalk Therapeutics, which emerged today with $57 million to develop new epigenetic medicines. The company's epigenetic profiling and engineering technology platform targets the epigentic code, called the software of the genome. Release

 

Jan. 4—Human Immunology Biosciences (HI-Bio) 

Series: B 
Amount: $95 million 
Investors: Alpha Wave Global, Viking Global Investors, Arkin Bio Capital, Jeito Capital and ARCH Venture Partners.  

HI-Bio has secured $95 million in a series B round, money that will be funneled toward felzartamab, the biotech's lead therapeutic candidate. The clinical-stage monoclonal antibody targets CD38 and was in-licensed from MorphoSys. HI-Bio is assessing felzartamab in antibody-mediated rejection, IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis and primary membranous nephropathy. The biotech will also direct the new money toward a clinical study for HIB210, an anti-C5aR1 candidate targeting neutrophil activation and chemotaxis. Release

 

Jan. 3—Radionetics Oncology

Series: A
Amount: $52.5 million
Investors: Frazier Life Sciences, 5AM Ventures, DCVC Bio, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and GordonMD Global Investments.

Radionetics has raised a $52.5 million series A, bringing the radiopharma biotech's total raised to $82.5 million. The young biotech plans to use the new funds to build out a pipeline of small molecule radiopharmaceuticals targeting novel G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) to treat a range of cancers. In tandem with the financing, the company has also tapped Paul Grayson to take on the top spot as CEO. With more than 25 years of industry experience under his belt, Grayson most recently served as president and CEO of Tentarix Biotherapeutics. Release