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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@axialsprawl.com
Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #15 - July 4, 2020 - July 10, 2020
Financings
Number of deals: 10 & Total capital invested: $609.9
- Doctor On Demand raised $75 million led by General Atlantic to further bolster and grow their telemedicine product.
- FraudScope raised $7M from QED Investors along with others to build a software product to help insurers detect and prevent fraud and abuse - https://www.wsj.com/articles/fraudscope-raises-7-million-to-tackle-health-care-fraud-11593682200
- Harbour Biomed raised $102.8M led by Hudson Bay Capital to develop their antibody clinical assets as well as bolster their transgenic mice platform to generate bi- and tri-specific antibodies - https://www.bioworld.com/articles/436380-harbour-biomed-closes-1028m-series-c-to-advance-late-stage-programs
- Mission Therapeutics raised $15M led by Pfizer Ventures to drug deubiquitylating enzymes for neurodegeneration and mitochondrial disease.
- NUGGS raised $4.1M led by Lerer Hippeau to make plant-based chicken nuggets.
- Solugen raised $30M led by Refactor Capital to continue commercialization of their enzymatic products for metal chelation and water reclamation particularly for fracking companies. One of the few synthetic biology companies with a revenue-generating product.
- Truepill raised $25M from TI Platform Fund, Optum Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Sound Ventures to scale up their incredible API platform for pharmaceutical distribution.
- Unum Therapeutics raised a $104M PIPE from Venrock, Atlas Venture, BVF, and others to acquire Kiq for their lead asset: a KIT D816V inhibitor for mastocytosis and GIST - https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unum-therapeutics-inc-announces-acquisition-of-kiq-llc-301088435.html
- VelosBio raised $137M from Foresite Capital, OrbiMed, Venrock, and others to develop their pipeline of ROR1-directed oncology medicines - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200708005049/en/VelosBio-Raises-137-Million-Series-Financing-Advance
- Vor Biopharma raised $110M led by RA Capital to bring their CAR-HSC medicines into the clinic; the main advantage is the ability of HSCs to self-renew.
Exits
Number of exits: 4 & Total exit value: Over $3B
- AlloVir filed for a $100M IPO to develop allogeneic cell therapies for viral diseases with phase 2 assets in CMV and ADV - https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1754068/000119312520187665/d932810ds1.htm
- Amryt Pharma listed their shares directly on the NASDAQ to develop their rare disease pipeline: lomitapide for HoFH, metreleptin for GL and PL and a lead clinical asset in epidermolysis bullosa.
- GoHealth filed to raise a $751M IPO to continue scaling their Medicare insurance plan marketplace - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1808220/000119312520189225/d797183ds1a.htm
- Nkarta raised $252M in an IPO to bring their off-the-shelf NK cell therapies into the clinic for AML and oncology in general - https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-20-173939/
Deals
Number of deals: 5 & Total deal value: $3.5B-$4B
- Atreca entered into a 3-year strategic collaboration with Xencor to discover, develop, and commercialize new T-cell engaging bispecific antibodies - http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/08/2059232/0/en/Atreca-and-Xencor-Enter-Strategic-Collaboration-to-Discover-Develop-and-Commercialize-Novel-T-Cell-Engaging-Bispecific-Antibodies.html
- Foghorn Therapeutics entered into a strategic collaboration with Merck to discover and develop oncology drugs against a transcription factor target. Foghorn received an undisclosed upfront payment with up to $425M in milestones - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200708005229/en/Foghorn%C2%AE-Therapeutics-Announces-Collaboration-Merck-Discover-Develop
- Kiadis announced the exclusive license of preclinical natural killer cell therapy assets to Sanofi: Kiadis received €17.5M in upfront payments and up to €857.5M in milestones - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/08/2059024/0/en/Kiadis-licenses-previously-undisclosed-pre-clinical-K-NK-cell-programs-to-Sanofi-with-total-potential-deal-value-of-875-million-plus-royalties.html
- Novavax announced $1.6B in funding from Operation Warp Speed to develop their nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine with a phase 3 trial with up to 30,000 subjects beginning in fall 2020 to manufacture at least 100M doses by late 2020 - http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/07/2058409/0/en/Novavax-Announces-1-6-Billion-Funding-from-Operation-Warp-Speed.html…
- Zymeworks expanded their collaboration with Merck to develop multispecific antibody therapeutics using Zymeworks’ Azymetric and EFECT platforms with Merck paying an undisclosed upfront payment and up to $891M in milestones and exercise fees - https://businesswire.com/news/home/20200708005132/en/Zymeworks-Announces-New-Multispecific-Antibody-Collaboration-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 -