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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 #53 - March 27, 2021 - April 2, 2021
Financings
Number of deals: 19 & Total capital invested: $1.35B
- Augmedics raised $36M with HIG Capital, Almeda Ventures, and Revival Healthcare Capital co-leading the round to develop their AR surgery product.
- BrightInsight raised $101M led by General Catalyst to scale their digital platform for medical device commercialization.
- CirrusMD raised $20M led by Blue Venture Fund to build an on-demand virtual care product.
- Cityblock Health raised $192M led by Tiger Global to scale their healthcare services and plans for Medicaid patients. Cool company.
- Crossover Health raised $168M led by Deerfield to scale their primary care products for employers. Great business.
- Ecovative raised $60M led by Viking Global investors to scale their mycelium manufacturing platform.
- Entrada Therapeutics raised $116M led by Wellington to use their conjugation platform for precise intracellular delivery initially focusing on DMD and other neuromuscular diseases.
- Immune-Onc Therapeutics raised $73M led by Oceanpine Capital to develop immunotherapies for oncology targeting LILRB2/4.
- INBRAIN Neuroelectronics raised $16.8M co-led by Alta Life Sciences and Asabys Partners to develop graphene-based neuroelectronics.
- Materna Medical raised $6M led by Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health to build a digital health product for women’s pelvic health.
- New Equilibrium raised $10M led by RA Capital Management to apply quantum computing to intrinsically disordered regions for drug development.
- Omega Therapeutics raised $126M led by Flagship Pioneering to develop a pipeline of medicines targeting epigenetic modifiers.
- Outpace Bio raised $30M co-led by ARTIS Ventures and Lyell Immunopharma to use the LOCKR technology from the Baker Lab (UoW) for cell therapies.
- Pyxis Oncology raised $152M with RTW Investments and Arix Bioscience co-leading the round to develop a pipeline of ADCs and mAbs as immunotherapies.
- Rightway raised $100M led by Khosla Ventures to scale their PBM and healthcare plan advisory business focused on employers.
- SteadyMD raised $25M led by Lux Capital to build a backend telemedicine product.
- Tyra Biosciences raised $106M led by Nextech Invest to develop medicines for drug-resistant cancers.
- Vibrant raised $7.5M led by Unorthodox Ventures to develop digital therapeutics for GI diseases.
- Vivodyne raised $4M led by Kairos Ventures to build a tissue-based screening services business.
Exits
Number of exits: 4 & Total exit value: Over $2.8B
- Akoya Biosciences filed for a $115M IPO to scale to spatial biology tools business - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1711933/000110465921042408/tm212065-5_s1.htm
- PatientPing was acquired by Appriss for around $500M to acquire one of the leading healthcare coordination products - https://homehealthcarenews.com/2021/03/rumored-appriss-acquisition-values-care-collaboration-company-patientping-at-500m/
- Rodeo Therapeutics was acquired by Amgen for up to $721M ($55M in cash) to get the company’s small molecule inhibitors of 15-PGDH for inflammatory disease - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/505415-amgen-acquiring-inflammatory-disease-startup-rodeo-for-up-to-721m?v=preview
- SomaLogic announced they are going public through a SPAC, valuing their company at $1.2B, to scale their proteomics business - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210329005184/en/SomaLogic-Leading-AI-Data-Driven-Proteomics-Platform-for-Advanced-Research-and-Clinical-Applications-to-Combine-with-CM-Life-Sciences-II-to-Drive-Growth-and-Expand-Technology-Platform
Deals
Number of deals: 3 & Total deal value: $2.7B
- BridgeBio executed a $2B deal with Helsinn Group. QED Therapeutics, a BridgeBio subsidiary, will work with Helsinn to commercialize infigratinib, an FGFR inhibitor, in the US with a 50/50 revenue share - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/31/2202307/0/en/BridgeBio-Pharma-s-Affiliate-QED-Therapeutics-and-Helsinn-Group-Announce-Strategic-Collaboration-to-Co-Develop-and-Commercialize-Infigratinib-in-Oncology.html
- Bridgene Biosciences announced a $500M deal with Takeda to use their chemoproteomic platform to discover small molecules for currently undrugged targets focusing on neurodegenerative disorders - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/takeda-taps-bridgene-to-pursue-hard-to-drug-neurodegenerative-disease-targets
- Lianbio executed a $200M partnership with Tarsus Pharmaceuticals for greater China rights to the phase 2b/3-stage candidate, TP-03 (lotilaner ophthalmic solution, 0.25%), designed to treat Demodex blepharitis and Meibomian gland disease - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/03/29/2201088/0/en/Tarsus-Pharmaceuticals-and-LianBio-Announce-Strategic-Partnership-to-Develop-and-Commercialize-TP-03-in-Greater-China-for-the-Treatment-of-Demodex-Blepharitis-and-Meibomian-Gland-D.html
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 -