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Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #57 - April 24, 2021 - April 30, 2021
Financings
Number of deals: 21 & Total capital invested: $1.15B
- 1upHealth raised $25M led by F-Prime Capital to build a software platform to allow developers, payors, and providers to access EHR data for 100Ms of patients.
- Arch Oncology raised $105M from Roche Venture Fund, Rivervest Venture Partners, among others to develop an anti-CD47 antibody for multiple myeloma and solid tumor patients.
- Boundless Bio raised $105M from RA Capital Management and Nextech Investment to develop new cancer medicines centered around extrachromosomal DNA.
- Capsida Biotherapeutics raised $50M co-led by Versant Ventures and Westlake Village BioPartners to build out an AAV drug discovery platform with an initial focus on CNS disorders. The company is based on the incredible work out of the Gradinaru Lab - https://glab.caltech.edu/
- Capsule raised $300M led by Durable Capital Partners to scale their software-enabled pharmacy.
- CareCar raised $3M with Kapor Capital and Impact America Fund co-leading the round to build software for supplement healthcare benefit plans.
- CareStack raised $22.5M from Accel, F-Prime Capital, among others to grow their SaaS business focused on dentist offices.
- Exscientia raised $225M led by SoftBank Vision Fund to scale their AI-driven drug discovery platform.
- Glytec raised $12M led by Savitr Capital to build a software platform for remote patient monitoring and insulin dosing.
- Kaia Health raised $75M from Balderton Capital, Optum Ventures, among others to develop their digital health product for musculoskeletal disorders focusing on coaching.
- MD Ally raised $3.5M led by General Catalyst to build a telehealth product to connect emergency responders to providers. Will be interesting to see if the company can scale across a diverse set of healthcare networks; if they can, this could be pretty valuable for patient coordination and triaging.
- Mirvie raised $30M from Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, among others to develop tests around cfRNA for early-stage detection in maternal health. Cool technology.
- Outcomes4Me raised $12M led by Northpond Ventures to grow their all-in-one app for breast cancer patients and their care journey.
- Sencure raised €1M led by Cottonwood Technology Fund to build biometric measuring devices for at-home health monitoring.
- Sera Prognostics raised $100M from Vivo Capital, Anthem, among others to scale their maternal health business focused on preventing premature death of infants.
- Sesame raised $24M from Industry Ventures, Coefficient Capital, among others to scale their telehealth marketplace.
- Stuart Therapeutics raised $11M led by Infocus Capital Partners to use their platform based on collagen mimetic peptides to treat dry eye disease.
- Take Command Health raised $12M co-led by LiveOak Venture Partners and SJF Ventures to help employers more easily set up health reimbursement arrangements.
- The Public Health Company raised $8M from Venrock, Verily, and Sweat Equity Ventures to build products centered around genomics to monitor infectious disease outbreaks. This is a pretty fascinating company and their pricing model will be one to follow. They also put out their Series A deck to the public through BI - https://archive.is/hLZxE
- Votive Health raised $2.5M from Flare Capital Partners, Chrysalis Ventures, and OCA Ventures to build software for fee-for-value care.
- Willow raised $26.8M led by Endeavour Vision to commercialize their next-generation, wearable breast pump.
Exits
Number of exits: 2 & Total exit value: Over $1B
- TScan Therapeutics filed for a $100M IPO to scale their TCR discovery platform and develop their pretty large pipeline of oncology drug candidates - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001783328/000119312521129264/d107876ds1.htm
- Werewolf Therapeutics announced an IPO raising $100M to develop their pipeline of cytokines to treat cancer - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001785530/000119312521130127/d41037ds1a.htm
Deals
Number of deals: 2 & Total deal value: Over $600M
- Canbridge Pharmaceuticals announced a deal with Logicbio worth up to $581M to use Logicbio’s platform to co-develop AAVsL65 gene therapies for Fabry and Pompe diseases - https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/canbridge-pharmaceuticals-announces-strategic-collaboration-with-logicbio-therapeutics-and-licenses-to-gene-delivery-and-editing-platforms/
- Capsida Biotherapeutics executed a deal with AbbVie in conjunction with its financing. AbbVie paid $90M to gain an option on some of Capsida’s programs in neurodegeneration - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/140m-backing-and-partnership-abbvie-capsida-ready-to-make-its-gene-therapy-play
In other news, GV just hired Dan Lynch, a legend who drove the turnaround of ImClone Systems, as an executive venture partner.
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 -