More well thought out work can be found at — https://axial.substack.com/
Axial invests and partners in early-stage life sciences companies. 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 — info@axialsprawl.com
Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #12 - June 13, 2020 - June 19, 2020
Financings
Number of deals: 17 & Total capital invested: $1.01B
- Augmedics raised $15M led by their own employees. This is gutsy. The employees raised a fund called AUG Management, LLC to invest in the company. Augmedics is building a AR spinal surgery tool called xVision; they already have FDA approval and need to get buy-in from surgeons and networks.
- Big Health raised $39M co-led by Gilde Healthcare and Morningside Ventures to build a digital health product for mental health: Sleepio to improve sleep and Daylight for anxiety management.
- BIOMILQ raised $3.5M led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures to developed cultured infant formula.
- Bit Bio raised $41.5M from Foresite Capital, Blueyard Capital, ARCH, and Richard Klausner to scale their iPSC engineering platform for cell therapies - https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/14/bit-bios-enter-button-for-the-keyboard-to-the-software-of-life-nabs-the-company-41-5-million/
- careMESH raised $5M with Assurance Capital and Pavey Family Investments co-leading the round to build a healthcare patient notification product similar to PatientPing.
- Cake raised $1.4M from Foundry Ventures and a group of angels to build a sexual wellness product.
- CureVac raised €300M from the German government to produce an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/after-a-turbulent-few-months-germany-takes-a-stake-covid-vaccine-drugmaker-curevac
- GreenLight Biosciences raised $102M led by Morningside Ventures to develop RNA-based products in agtech and drug deveopment - https://news.crunchbase.com/news/greenlight-biosciences-closes-102m-series-d-to-expand-rna-products/
- Immvira raised $58M led by Huagai Capital to develop oncolytic virus to treat cancer patients in China
- Kaia Health raised $26M from Idinvest, Optum Ventures, and capital300 to commercialize their software product that tracks movement to inform diagnose and treatment of musculoskeletal and cardiac diseases.
- Kalderos raised $28M co-led by Bain Capital Ventures and Mercato Partners to build a software product to help providers and drug manufacturers manage their drug discount contracts/agreements.
- Orca Bio raised $192M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and an undisclosed investor to reimagine the bone marrow transplant. One of the most exciting companies in life sciences - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-17/orca-bio-emerges-as-1-billion-plus-biotech-with-mystery-backer
- Plume raised $2.9M co-led by General Catalyst and Slow Ventures to build a direct-to-consumer hormone replacement company - https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/18/plume-is-building-a-healthcare-service-specifically-for-the-transgender-community/
- Proprio raised $23M led by DCVC to commercialize their computer vision product to help guide surgical tools.
- Shattuck Labs raised $118M led by Redmile Group to develop their CD47 inhibitor and CD40 stimulator fusion protein for oncology - https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/06/18/inside-startup-shattuck-labs-changing-the-face-of-cancer-therapy/
- Tropic Bioscience raised £22.5M led by Temasek to bring gene editing to specialty/tropical crops focusing on diversity banana strains - https://www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/tropic-biosciences-raises-225m-to-transform-agriculture
- Ultromics raised $10M from Oxford Sciences Innovation and Nina Capital to build software analyzing cardiogram images and build a business model similar to PathAI.
Exits
Number of exits: 4 & Total exit value: Over $2B
- Forma Therapeutics filed to raise $200M in RA Capital’s new Series I process to develop their broad pipeline spanning AML to sickle cell disease and NASH - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1538927/000119312520168273/d906114ds1a.htm
- Genetron filed to raise $163M to build their cancer diagnostics business in China - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1782594/000119312520168453/d779078df1a.htm
- Progenity filed for an IPO of $100M to scale up their prenatal disease screening business - https://sec.report/Document/1580063/000119312520171802/d792478ds1a.htm
- Repare Therapeutics filed to raise $125M to develop their pipeline of gene therapies in oncology - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1808158/000119312520168295/d908774ds1a.htm
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 -