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Axial partners with great founders and inventors. We invest in early-stage life sciences companies often when they are no more than an idea. We are fanatical about helping the rare inventor who is compelled to build their own enduring business. If you or someone you know has a great idea or company in life sciences, Axial would be excited to get to know you and possibly invest in your vision and company . We are excited to be in business with you - email us at info@axialvc.com
Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #20 - August 8, 2020 - August 14, 2020
Financings
Number of deals: 20 & Total capital invested: $1.2B
- Allergy Amulet raised $3.3M led by TitletownTech to develop their portable allergen sensor.
- Atomwise raised $123M co-led by B Capital and Sanabil Investments to scale up its AI drug discovery business. The “no money down” strategy has generated hundreds of deals, and the next steps are to make this discovery deals into new medicines.
- Bodyport raised $11.2M led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to build a virtual clinic for the detection and management of heart disease.
- Brella Insurance raised $1.5M from Digitalis and others to build a health insurance plan/product for Texas-based employers.
- Brio Systems raised $1.9M from One Way Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Nimble Ventures, and Castor Ventures to bring COVID-19 tests to employers. Congrats Boris.
- Cecelia Health raised $13M with Rittenhouse Ventures and Endo Investors co-leading to build their chronic disease personalized coaching product. Tough market. Virta is the best.
- Clearstep Health raised $1.3M from RRE Ventures, Newark Venture Partners, and OCA Ventures to develop their healthcare triaging software product. Really big problem especially with the influx of COVID-19 patients.
- Dyne Therapeutics raised $115M from Vida Ventures and Surveyor Capital to develop new medicines for muscle diseases. Their two lead assets are focused on DMD and myotonic dystrophy.
- Eden Health raised $25M led by Flare Capital to scale their full-stack medical practice product for employers.
- ImmunoScape raised $11M led by Anzu Partners to profile the immune system to build a tools and drug development business.
- Impossible Foods raised $200M led by Coatue to continue scaling up their plant-based meat business. Incredible company.
- Lumeon raised $30M with Optum Ventures and Endeavour Vision co-leading the round to sale their software product to connect hospitals, clinics, and patients.
- Mission Bio raised $70M led by Novo Growth to continue commercialization of their single-cell and multi-omic tools offering.
- MOBILion Systems raised $35M led by aMoon Capital to develop new tools for biomarker discovery, diagnostics and therapeutic development.
- Nurx raised $22.5M led by Trustbridge to grow their digital health product to help women more easily order birth control.
- Reify Health raised $30M led by Battery Ventures to build software to connect various stakeholders in the clinical trial process.
- Thirty Madison raised $47M led by Johnson & Johnson to build digital health products for treatment of hair loss, migraines, and acid reflux - https://fortune.com/2020/08/14/johnson-johnson-thirty-madison/
- THREAD raised $50M from Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners to develop decentralized/remote clinical trial products.
- Vicarious Surgical raised $13.2M led by E15 Capital to lower the cost of surgical robots.
- Waterdrop raised $200M led by Tencent to scale their healthcare expenses crowdfunding platform. A lot of controversy around this company - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-11/tencent-backed-waterdrop-said-to-raise-funds-at-2-billion-value
Exits
Number of exits: 5 & Total exit value: Over $6B
- CureVac raised $213M in an IPO to continue development of their mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1809122/000110465920086354/tm2016252-11_f1.htm
- Hims is exploring going public through a SPAC to bring their digital health company that sells men’s wellness products - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/hims-said-in-talks-to-go-public-via-oaktree-blank-check-company
- Inhibrx filed to raise $102M in an IPO to continue development of their medicines in oncology and rare diseases - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1739614/000119312519164114/d636583ds1.htm
- KaNDy Therapeuticswas acquired by Bayer for their phase 2 menopause drug - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/496663-bayer-adding-to-womens-health-pipeline-with-kandy-buy-for-425m-up-front
- Pfenexwas acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals for $438M to bring on board the former’s recombinant protein expression platform - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200810005790/en/Ligand-Acquire-Pfenex
Deals
Number of deals: 3 & Total deal value: ~$1.1B
- Lianbioannounced two in-licensing deals with BridgeBio and Myokardia. With BridgeBio, Lianbio entered into a deal valued at $531.5M for two oncology candidates, SHP2 inhibitor BBP-398 and FGFR inhibitor infigratinib. With Myokardia, the deal is worth $187.5M for a cardiorenal asset, mavacamten - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/496688-new-startup-lianbio-brings-in-late-assets-to-establish-presence-in-china and https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005471/en/Perceptive-Advisors-Launches-LianBio-Multiple-Strategic-Alliances
- Lytix Biopharmaentered into a deal with Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth $113.5M to develop their oncolytic peptide drug candidate in skin cancer - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/496664-lytix-finds-partner-for-skin-cancer-agent-ltx-315-in-1135m-verrica-deal
- Tevaannounced a deal with Alvotech (undisclosed terms) to commercialize five biosimilars in the US - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/496621-teva-ties-up-agreement-with-alvotech-to-commercialize-five-biosimilars
I used to play football a long time ago - I had some decent success mainly because of my teammates with some of them playing in the NFL. Every practice, every game was an existential fight. I’m not that athletic so every year some 6’4 monster would show up trying to take my spot. Similarly, all of these companies are fighting for their right to exist whether they raised $1M or $100M. Building a great business requires passion and focus. A really powerful and useful framework to lead groups of people and win was developed by Bill Walsh -