Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #47

More money, more problems to solve

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Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #47 - February 13, 2021 - February 19, 2021

Financings

Number of deals: 15 & Total capital invested: $625.1M

- Botco.ai raised $2.2M led by Stout Street Capital to build a conversational bot focused on healthcare marketing.

- Carevive Systems raised $18M led by Philips Health Technology Ventures to scale their network of oncology providers.

- Eden Health raised $60M led by Insight Partners to scale their direct-to-employers healthcare products spanning primary care to mental health and insurance.

- EnginZyme raised €4.4M led by Industrifonden to use cell-free technology to produce and commercialize bio-based chemicals.

- Evox Therapeutics raised $95.4M led by Redmile Group to develop their pipeline of exosome therapeutics focused on inborn errors of metabolism.

- Excision BioTherapeutics raised $60M led by GreatPoint Ventures to bring their CRISPR therapy for HIV to phase 1 and develop their pipeline of gene editing medicines for viral diseases.

- HemoShear Therapeutics raised $40M led by Suvretta Capital to develop new medicines for rare metabolic disorders.

- ImmuneID raised $17M led by Longwood Fund to develop their antibody scanning platform for autoimmunity and other immune-driven diseases.

- Mainstay Medical Holdings raised $108M with Ally Bridge Group and Sofinnova Partners co-leading the round to develop a neurostimulation device for people with chronic lower back pain.

- Notch Therapeutics raised $85M from Allogene Therapeutics, Lumira Ventures, among others to use their engineering thymic niche platform to develop iPSC therapies for cancer.

- Pattern Health raised $1.5M co-led by Cofounders Capital and The Launch Place to build a marketplace for digital health products.

- Redefine Meat raised $29M co-led by Hanaco Ventures and Happiness Capital to use 3D printing to produce meat substitutes and new formulations.

- Rx Redefined raised $2M led by Silverton Partners to build a software product to help physicians manage distribution of medical supplies to their patients.

- Sagimet Biosciences raised $80M from NEA, Rock Springs Capital, Kleiner Perkins, among others to develop new medicines targeting fatty acid synthase to treat NASH and cancer indications.

- Q’Apel Medical raised $22M from Soleus Capital, River Cities Capital, among others to develop medical devices for neurovascular disorders.

Exits

Number of exits: 2 & Total exit value: Over $2.6B

- Humacyte agreed to go public through a SPAC valuing the company around $1.1B to grow their bioengineering platform for human tissues and organs - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alpha-healthcare-m-a-humacyte/human-tissue-developer-humacyte-nears-spac-deal-to-go-public-sources-idUSKBN2AH09F

- Quantum-Si agreed to go public through a SPAC valuing the company around $1.5M to scale their proteomics tools business - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-quantum-si-m-a-highcape-capital/protein-sequencing-firm-quantum-si-to-go-public-via-1-46-billion-spac-merger-idUSKBN2AI1HT

Deals

Number of deals: 3 & Total deal value: Over $1.9B

- Cellectis announced a deal with Cytoiva Therapeutics to develop 5 allogeneic natural killer and CAR-NK cell therapies using Cellectis’ TALEN gene editing technology. Cellectis is receiving $15M in equity from Cytovia along with milestone payments worth up to $760M - https://www.biospace.com/article/cellectis-and-cytovia-partner-to-develop-natural-killer-cells/

- Rigel Pharmaceuticals executed a deal with Eli Lilly to co-develop Rigel's R552, a receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitor, for all indications including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Lilly will pay an upfront cash payment of $125M to Rigel with milestone payments up to $835M along with tiered royalties ranging from the mid-single digit to high-teens - https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lilly-and-rigel-enter-strategic-collaboration-to-develop-ripk1-inhibitors-for-the-potential-treatment-of-immunological-and-neurodegenerative-diseases-301230502.html

- Vir Biotechnology announced a deal with GlaxoSmithKline to expand their existing collaboration to include the research and development of new therapies for influenza and other respiratory viruses. GSK will make an upfront payment of $225M and a further equity investment of $120M into Vir - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/glaxosmithkline-doubles-down-vir-pact-throwing-345m-upfront-to-go-beyond-covid

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 -