Life Sciences Financings and Commentary #52

More money, more problems to solve

More well thought out work can be found at — https://axial.substack.com/

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 #52 - March 20, 2021 - March 26, 2021

Financings

Number of deals: 21 & Total capital invested: $1.98B

- 1910 Genetics raised $22M co-led by Playground Global and M12 to scale their AI drug discovery platform spanning immunology to neuroscience and infectious disease. Very exciting company.

- 3billion raised $13M led by Kakao Investment, JW Asset, among others to scale their DTC rare disease screening product.

- Adapttech raised $2.4M from Bionova Capital, Wren Capital, among others to build scanning technology and software for limb socket fitting. Really important problem.

- Apnimed raised $25M led by Morningside Ventures to develop new medicines for sleep apnea.

- Asher Bio raised $55M led by Third Rock Ventures to develop their targeted IL-2 for oncology. Congrats to everyone at Asher.

- Better Health raised $3.5M led by 8VC to build a marketplace for medical supplies.

- Brii Biosciences raised $155M led by Invesco to develop new medicines for infectious diseases focused on China.

- DexCare raised $20M led by Define Ventures to build a software platform to measure and manage load capacity for healthcare networks.

- Eat Just raised $200M led by Qatar Investment Authority to scale their plant-based product lines.

- Eliem Therapeutics raised $80M from RA Capital Management, Access Biotechnology, among others to develop their lead asset in chronic sciatica and diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain.

- Emalex Biosciences raised $35M led by Paragon Biosciencesto develop new medicines for movement and fluency disorders.

- Evidation Health raised $153M with OMERS Growth Equity and Kaiser Permanente Group co-leading the round to scale their platform for behavior-focused studies.

- Ginger raised $100M from Blackstone to scale their on-demand mental health product offering.

- Gyroscope Therapeutics raised $148M led by Forbion to develop their pipeline of gene therapies for AMD and other retinal diseases.

- Komodo Health raised $220M led by Tiger Global Management to grow their clinical trial data platform.

- Leyden Laboratories raised $47M led by GV to develop broad-spectrum antivirals.

- Nourish Ingredients raised $11M co-led by Horizons Ventures and Main Sequence Ventures to create a platform for animal-free fats.

- Ro raised $500M from General Catalyst, FirstMark Capital, among others to build new healthcare brands.

- Scipher Medicine raised $82M with Northpond Ventures and aMoon Capital co-leading the round to grow their drug response platform for autoimmunity.

- Scribe Therapeutics raised $100M led by Avoro Ventures/Capital to use their CasX gene editing platform and develop a pipeline of medicines. Congrats Ben.

- XyloCor Therapeutics raised $22.6M led by Fountain Healthcare Partners to develop new gene therapies for cardiovascular disease focusing on coronary artery disease.

Exits

Number of exits: 5 & Total exit value: Over $4B

- Achilles Therapeutics filed for a $176M IPO to develop their pipeline of T-cell therapies for solid tumors - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001830749/000119312521093358/d19910df1a.htm

- Recursion Pharmaceuticals filed for an IPO to raise $100M to scale their AI-based drug discovery platform. Congrats Chris and the entire team - https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-21-089610/

- Reneo Pharmaceuticals also filed for a $100M IPO to develop new medicines for genetic mitochondrial diseases. The company’s lead drug candidate, REN001, is a selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPARδ) agonist that has been shown to increase transcription of genes involved in mitochondrial function and increase fatty acid oxidation (FAO) - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001637715/000119312521087741/d63585ds1.htm

- VectivBio filed for a $100M IPO to develop their pipeline of drug candidates treating gastrointestinal disorders with their lead product a GLP-2 analog - https://sec.report/Document/0001628280-21-005213/

- Zymergen filed to go public and raise $100M to scale their synthetic biology design platform. Revenue went down between 2019 and 2020 probably due to COVID - https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001645842/000114036121009581/nt10018776x4_s1.htm

Deals

Number of deals: 1 & Total deal value: Over $1M

- Lassen Therapeutics executed a collaboration with Cedars Sinai to study the role of IL-11 in lung fibrosis and develop new drugs - https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/lassen-therapeutics-cedas-sinai-team-up-to-test-il-11-antibodies-lung-fibrosis

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 -