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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 #44 - January 23, 2021 - January 29, 2021
Financings
Number of deals: 15 & Total capital invested: $750M
- Calibrate raised $22.5M led by Threshold Ventures to scale their digital health platform for metabolic health and weight loss.
- Concert Health raised $14M led by Vertical Venture Partners to build software to help primary care clinics integrate behavioral sciences into their practice.
- Encodia raised $75M co-led by Deerfield and Northpond Ventures to scale their proteomics business.
- Hurdle raised $5M with 406 Ventures and Seae Ventures co-leading the round to build their mental health services and digital health products.
- Kardium raised $115M led by Fidelity to develop their medical devices to treat atrial fibrillation.
- Nuvalent raised $50M for Deerfield to develop a pipeline of drug candidates with their lead candidate targeting ROS1 in NSCLC.
- OFFOR Health raised $5M led by SpringWork Ventures to grow their portfolio of healthcare services: dental, medical, preventative, and senior care.
- Lyra Health raised $187M led by Addition to grow their mental healthcare benefit plans for employers.
- Parse Biosciences raised $7M led by Bioeconomy Capital to grow their single-cell sequencing kit business - http://www.parsebiosciences.com/technology
- Phospholutions raised $10.3M led by Continental Grain Company to commercialize their RhizoSorb fertilizer along with their other environmental products.
- Sidecar Health raised $125M from Tiger Global, Menlo Ventures, among others to scale their health insurance plans that can be customized to each patient and allows medical costs to be charged to a credit/debit card.
- Slate Bio raised $1.75M led by Epidarex Capital to develop an IL-2 therapeutic for autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases.
- Sproud raised £4.8M from VGC Partners to develop new plant-based milks.
- SWORD Health a New York-based virtual physical therapy care provider, raised $25 million.
- TScan Therapeutics raised $100M from RA Capital Management and BlackRock to grow their TCR identification platform and develop a pipeline of cancer medicines.
Exits
Number of exits: 2 & Total exit value: Over $1B
- Decibel Therapeutics filed for a $75M IPO to develop their pipeline of medicines to treat hearing loss - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1656536/000119312521014818/d109406ds1.htm
- Talis Biomedical filed for a $150M IPO grow their point-of-care diagnostics business with a focus now on COVID-19 - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1584751/000119312521014914/d25171ds1.htm
Deals
Number of deals: 1 & Total deal value: $1.88B
- Artiva Biotherapeutics announced a deal with Merck in a deal worth up to $1.88B ($30M in an upfront payment) to develop 3 natural killer (NK) cell therapies engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR). Merck will pay Artiva $30M up front for two initial programs, plus $15M more should it opt into the third. Each program carries $612M in potential development and commercial milestone payments - https://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/artiva-inks-landmark-1-8-billion-collab-with-merck
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 -