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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 #27 - September 26, 2020 - October 2, 2020
Financings
Number of deals: 17 & Total capital invested: $1.4B
- BioShin Limited raised $60M led by OrbiMed. Bioshin will use the funds to develop the Biohaven clinical portfolio in Asia, including Nurtec ODT (rimegepant) and troriluzole, while also building out the company in China. Planning for phase 3 trials in China and Korea for acute migraines is already underway as well as efforts to initiate sites in China for the global registrational trial of troriluzole for spinocerebellar ataxia indications. Bioshin’s team is looking to start both trials in the fourth quarter of 2020.
- Biocytogen raised $142M led by CMB International to scale their drug development services business in China.
- Carmot Therapeutics raised $47M from Amgen, The Column Group, and Horizons Ventures to develop new medicines for metabolic diseases.
- Cstoneraised $200M from Pfizer to develop their pipeline of immunotherapies in China - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/498401-pfizer-investing-200m-in-cstone-as-part-of-new-oncology-alliance
- Dewpoint Therapeutics raised $77M led by ARCH Venture Partners to develop new medicines focused on biomolecular condensates.
- Flame Biosciences raised $100M led by Rock Springs Capital to develop drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/498403-entering-the-inflama-zone-flame-fights-inflammation-with-100m-financing
- Galecto raised $64M with Soleus Capital and Eir Ventures co-leading the round to develop new medicines for fibrosis and cancer - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/498219-galecto-closes-64m-series-d-round
- InventisBio raised $147M led by GL Ventures to develop small molecule drugs focused on oncology and metabolic diseases.
- Lucid Scientific raised $3M led by Dynamk Capital to commercialize cell culture monitor products and grow their tools business..
- Mosa Meat raised $55M led by Blue Horizon Venture to validate and scale their cultured meat products.
- Noyo raised $12.5M from Spark Capital and Costanoa Ventures to scale their API platform for health insurance data exchanges.
- Olema Oncology raised $85M led by Vivo Capital to develop new medicines for women’s cancers.
- Palladio Biosciences raised $20M from Roche Venture Fund and Medicxi to develop new drugs for kidney diseases.
- Shiok Meats raised $12.6M led by Aqua-Spark to create shrimp products from cultured cells.
- Sonoma Biotherapeutics raised $30M from Lyell Immunopharma, ARCH Venture Partners, and 8VC to develop regulatory T-cell therapies for autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
- SOPHiA GENETICS raised $110M led by aMoon Capital to grow their core products in genomics and radiomics to help pathologists and clinicians.
- XtalPi raised $319M led by Softbank Vision Fund to scale their AI-driven drug discovery platform. Good luck - https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/28/xtalpi-lands-massive-319m-softbank-led-round-c-to-continue-its-high-tech-drug-discovery/
Exits
Number of exits: 2 & Total exit value: Over $2B
- C4 Therapeutics raised $182.4M in an IPO to develop their preclinical pipeline of medicines of degraders - https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-20-243234/
- Hims is going public through a merger with a SPAC (Oaktree Acquisition) valuing the company at $1.6B to scale their digital prescription business - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1773751/000119312520260569/d74354dex991.htm
Deals
Number of deals: 2 & Total deal value: ~$280M
- Cstone, in conjunction with their $200M financing round from Pfizer, is licensing their anti-PD-L1 antibody, sugemalimab, to Pfizer for commercialization in China. Under the terms of the deal, Cstone will get $280M in potential payments down the line - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/pfizer-funnels-200m-into-cstone-licences-late-stage-cancer-med-china
- Genfit announced a licensing agreement with LabCorp for Genfit’s NIS4 technology to help identify patients with at-risk non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) - https://www.genfit.com/press-release/genfit-and-labcorp-sign-a-licensing-agreement-to-expand-access-to-an-innovative-diagnostic-assay-for-non-alcoholic-steatohepatitis-nash/
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 -