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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 #50 - March 6, 2021 - March 12, 2021
Financings
Number of deals: 17 & Total capital invested: $1.27B
- Advise Health Holdings raised $100M led by Oak HC/FT to scale their Medicare advisory business.
- AgomAb Therapeutics raised $74M led by Redmile Group to develop biologics for tissue repair and organ recovery.
- Amunix Pharmaceuticals raised $117M led by Viking Global Investors to develop T-cell engagers to treat solid tumors.
- CalciMedica raised $21M with Quark Venture and GHS Fund co-leading the round to target the CRAC channel to treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.
- Cedar raised $200M led by Tiger Global Management to scale their healthcare financial and patient engagement platform.
- CorVista Health raised $65M led by Ambix Life Science Fund to bring their digital health tool for cardiovascular disease diagnosis closer to commercialization.
- Ibex Medical Analytics raised $38M co-led by 83North and Octopus Ventures to develop their AI technology for diagnostics and pathology.
- Ixlayer raised $75M led by General Catalyst to scale their backend infrastructure to enable others to deploy diagnostics.
- Monte Rosa Therapeutics raised $95M led by Avoro Capital Advisors to develop their pipeline of selective protein degraders.
- NeoPhore raised $21M led by Claris Ventures to develop their pipeline of cancer drugs targeting DNA mismatch repair.
- Neurelis raised $114M from Cormorant Asset Management and Decheng Capital to develop new medicines for seizures.
- Paige raised $125M from KKR, Casdin Capital, among clothes to develop their AI software for pathology.
- Sensi.ai raised $3.5M led by Flint capital to build a remote care software platform.
- Standigm raised $44.5M co-led by SKS and Daishin Private Equity to build an AI drug discovery platform.
- Tausight raised $20M co-led by Polaris Partners and Flare Capital Partners to build a security software company focused on patient data.
- Ventyx Biosciences raised $114M led by venBio to develop new medicines for autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases targeting NLRP3, S1P1R, and TYK2.
- Visus Therapeutics raised $36M from RTW Investments, among others to develop a presbyopia-correcting eye drop.
Exits
Number of exits: 3 & Total exit value: Over $1B
- Design Therapeutics filed for a $100M IPO to use their gene targeted chimeras to target nucleotide repeat expansion diseases - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1807120/000119312521071667/d80825ds1.htm
- Gigagen was acquired by Grifols valuing the company at $115M to bring on board Gigagen’s single-cell screening platform for antibody discovery - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/504543-total-outlay-115m-grifols-becomes-outright-owner-of-gigagen-in-80m-deal
- Maverick Therapeutics was acquired by Maverick Therapeutics for up to $525M to get Maverick’s COBRA platform to develop bispecific T-cell engagers - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/504555-takeda-exercises-its-option-to-buy-maverick-and-its-t-cell-engagers
Deals
Number of deals: 1 & Total deal value: Over $10M
- Wugen executed a deal with Alpha Biopharma in a deal to develop allogeneic CAR-T and NK cell therapies in Asia - https://www.biospectrumasia.com/news/95/17731/wugen-inks-deal-with-alpha-biopharma-for-cancer-cell-therapies-in-asia.html
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 -