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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@axialsprawl.com
Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #14 - June 27, 2020 - July 3, 2020
Financings
Number of deals: 16 & Total capital invested: $696.8M
- Airvet raised $14M led by Canvas Ventures to build a telemedicine product for veterinarians - https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/airvet-a-telehealth-veterinary-platform-just-clawed-its-way-to-a-14-million-series-a-round/
- Amylyx Pharmaceuticals raised $30M led by Morningside Ventures to development new medicines for Alzheimer's disease and neurodegenerative disorders.
- Annexon raised $100M led by Redmile Group to target complement for diseases like ALS and Huntington’s Disease.
- Artiva Biotherapeutics raised $78M from 5AM Ventures, RA Capital, venBio, and others to develop off-the-shelf natural killer cell therapies.
- Beckley Psytech raised $3.8M from Jim Mellon and Greg Bailey to develop psychedelic drugs for treating psychiatric and neurological diseases.
- Bolt Biotherapeutics raised $93.5M led by Sofinnova to develop antibody conjugates for oncology; the thesis is to convert cold tumors into hot ones through immunological stimulation at the site of the tumor.
- Citryll raised €18.5M with Seventure and BioGeneration co-leading the round to develop antibodies targeting neutrophil extracellular traps.
- Denovo Biopharma raised $83.5M led by CICC Capital to enter a phase 3 trial in China for a rescued drug treating diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and glioblastoma - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/436153-denovo-closes-835m-series-c-round-to-support-phase-iii-trials-of-enzastaurin?v=preview
- Evidation Health raised $45M led by B Capital Group to scale their clinical trial product offering to measure patient behavior.
- Freeline Therapeutics raised $80M from Novo Holding, Wellington, Cowen Healthcare Investments, and others to develop gene therapies for diseases like Fabry Disease and hemophilia.
- Genome Medical raised $14M led by Samsung Catalyst Fund to build a telemedicine product for genetic counseling.
- Goldfinch Bio raised $100M led by Eventide Asset Management to develop new medicines for kidney disease relying on their organoid platform - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/after-its-2b-gilead-pact-goldfinch-bio-nabs-a-cool-100m-series-b
- Owkin raised $18M led by Mubadala and Bpifrance to use federarate learning to speed up drug development and clinical trials - https://news.crunchbase.com/news/french-american-ai-startup-owkin-closes-18m-series-a-to-make-medical-research-more-collaborative/
- Protaryx raised $8.3M in a seed and Series A round led by Ajax Health to develop medical devices for transcatheter cardiac procedures.
- Sun Genomics raised $8.7M led by Pangaea Ventures to build a DTC probiotics company.
Exits
Number of exits: 8 & Total exit value: Over $5B
- ACell filed to raise $86M to commercialize their regenerative materials for things like wounds and burns - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1170005/000104746920003877/a2241958zs-1.htm
- ALX Oncology filed for a $100M IPO to bring their CD47 drug through the clinic - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1810182/000119312520181021/d913838ds1.htm
- Berkeley Lights also filed to raise a $100M IPO to scale up their single-cell platform for drug development and research - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1689657/000119312520181007/d911336ds1.htm
- Inozyme filed for a $86M IPO to bring their drug candidates in rare mineralization disorders to the clinic - https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1693011/000119312520186800/d919364ds1.htm
- InTouch Health was acquired by Teladoc Health for an undisclosed amount.
- Nurix filed for a $100M IPO to scale up their small molecule programs focused on directed protein degradation; they have some awesome technology to map out various E3 ligases - https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549595/000119312520186809/d903927ds1.htm
- Pandion Therapeutics filed to raise a $75M IPO to bring their tissue-selective biologics through the clinic; really neat technology - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1807901/000119312520181101/d926475ds1.htm
- Poseida filed for a $115M IPO to further develop their phase 2 BCMA CAR-T cell therapy candidate and scale up their non-viral platform in cell therapies - https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661460/000119312520174164/d872388ds1.htm
Deals
Number of deals: 0 (no significant ones) & Total deal value: $0
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 -