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Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #56 - April 17, 2021 - April 23, 2021
Financings
Number of deals: 22 & Total capital invested: $951M
- 1Doc3 raised $3M co-led by Kayyak Ventures and MatterScale Ventures to build a primary care digital health product focused on Colombia.
- Adagio Therapeutics raised $336M led by RA Capital Management to develop antibodies against COVID-19.
- Adyn Health raised $2.5M with Lux Capital and M13 leading the round to build a digital health product to help patients find the right birth control.
- Alan raised €185M led by Coatue to scale their software-enabled health insurance business focused on France.
- Aloe Care Health raised $5M from Drumbeat Ventures, Springbank Collective, among others to develop medical alert and voice products for the elderly.
- Anavo Therapeutics raised €20M led by Merck Ventures among others to develop new medicines targeting phosphatases.
- Brella Insurance raised $15M led by Brewer Lane to build a supplement plan for health insurance.
- Code Biotherapeutics raised $10M co-led by 4BIO Capital and UPMC Enterprises to develop their non-viral delivery technology focused on genetic diseases.
- Current Health raised $43M led by Northpond Ventures to grow their device (for passive monitoring of health vitals) and software (RCM) combination business. Interesting business model that can enable more outpatient care and more efficient clinical trials.
- Hungry Planet raised $25M led by Post Holdings to scale their plant-based meat business.
- Kuleana raised $3M from YC, GoodSeed Ventures, among others to develop plant-based fish products.
- Medchart raised $17M co-led by Crosslink Capital and Golden Ventures to build a software platform for medical record access for things like tort and insurance claims.
- Mindgram raised €1.9M led by Market One Capital to develop a employee-based benefits plan focused on mental health.
- Oath Care raised $2M from General Catalyst among others to develop a digital health product for pregnancy and maternal care.
- Ophelia raised $15M led by Menlo Ventures to scale their digital health product for opioid addictions. Compelling founding story.
- Proximie raised $38M led by F-Prime Capital to enable virtual collaboration within hospitals.
- PursueCare raised $11M from OCA Ventures among others to build a at-home substance abuse product.
- Seed Health raised $40M led by The Craftory to scale their DTC probiotics business.
- Seqster PDM raised $12M led by OmniHealth Holdings to build an EHR focused on employers.
- Stix raised $3.5M with SWAT Equity Partners and Resolute Ventures co-leading the round to build a women’s health DTC business.
- Virta Health raised $133M led by Tiger Global to scale their digital health product that cures Type 2 diabetes. An iconic company.
Exits
Number of exits: 6 & Total exit value: Over $5B
- ATAI Life Sciences filed for a $100M IPO to scale their mental health holding company - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840904/000119312521123009/d39052ds1.htm
- Gyroscope Therapeutics also filed for a $100M IPO to develop gene therapies for dry AMD (no approved drugs here). Gemini is also an exciting company in this field - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1837620/000119312521119544/d59492df1.htm
- Impel NeuroPharma filed to raise $80M in a public offering to use their nasal delivery method to bring their phase 3 migraine drug candidate to a pivotal trial - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445499/000119312521120290/d121817ds1a.htm
- Sagimet Biosciences filed for a $75M IPO to drug fatty acid synthase for NASH and other indications - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001400118/000110465921051413/tm218447-3_drs.htm
- Talaris Therapeutics filed to raise $100M in an IPO to develop their alloHSCT to enable chimerism (host and transplant cells co-exist in the bone marrow) for organ transplant patients and immune-related disease - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001827506/000119312521119531/d51356ds1.htm
- Treace Medical Concepts filed for a $150M IPO to commercialize their medical device for bunions - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1630627/000119312521120293/d111748ds1a.htm
Deals
Number of deals: 2 & Total deal value: Over $2B
- CRISPR Therapeutics expanded their partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The $900M deal is for CTX-001, a gene editing drug candidate for sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT). CRISPR will pay 40% of the costs of the autologous, CRISPR/Cas9-based therapy and in return receive 40% of the profits. Vertex picks up the remaining 60% of the costs and will pull in 60% of CTX-001’s profits from future global sales - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/04/20/2213128/0/en/Vertex-Pharmaceuticals-and-CRISPR-Therapeutics-Amend-Collaboration-for-Development-Manufacturing-and-Commercialization-of-CTX001-in-Sickle-Cell-Disease-and-Beta-Thalassemia.html
- Obsidian Therapeutics also announced a deal with Vertex with a $1.3B deal to develop small-molecule controlled gene editing proteins - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/vertex-taps-obsidian-controllable-genetic-medicines-deal
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 -