2016’s Top 10 Series A Venture Rounds
Company	Investors	Use Of Proceeds
BlueRock Therapeutics; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; New York and Boston	Regenerative medicine start-up BlueRock Therapeutics launched with $225m from Bayer AG and Versant Ventures [See Deal]	BlueRock plans create induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) therapies through R&D centers in Toronto, New York and Boston, initially focused on cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases using a technology platform it licensed from inventor Shinya Yamanaka, a stem cell researcher at Kyoto University. (Also see "Bayer/Versant Launch New Stem Cell Company With Massive Cash Injection" - Scrip, 13 December, 2016.)
CStone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.; Shanghai and Suzhou, China	CStone Pharmaceuticals raised $150m (RMB975mm) in a Series A financing round backed by Oriza Seed Venture Capital, Boyu Capital and WuXi Healthcare Ventures [See Deal]	CStone is focused on five therapy areas, including oncology (immuno-oncology is core focus), autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and hematology. The company will use the proceeds to advance various programs into the clinic and also to find new innovations. (Also see "Record CStone Funding Heralds New Era For China Startups" - Scrip, 6 July, 2016.)
Hengrui Therapeutics Inc.; Shanghai	Hengrui Therapeutics raised $100m in a Series A round backed by HR Bio Holdings Ltd., a joint venture between Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Ltd. and an undisclosed blue chip investment firm [See Deal]	Hengrui was spun out of Jiangsu earlier this year to develop three of Jiangsu's oncology candidates, in addition to carrying out in-licensing and drug discovery activities. The company's pipeline initially includes the solid tumor compounds pyrotinib (HTI1001; Phase I/II), the anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody HTI1316 (preclinical) and the antibody-drug conjugate HTI1403 (preclinical), which comprises an anti-RTK antibody conjugated to a proprietary toxin by site-directed conjugation technology. (Also see "Hengrui Pursues Innovation Through New $100m US Spinoff" - Scrip, 11 July, 2016.)
Carrick Therapeutics Ltd.; Dublin, Ireland and Oxford, UK	Carrick Therapeutics raised $95m through a Series A round led by Arch Venture Partners and Woodford Investment Management and joined by Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Evotec AG, GV (Google Ventures), and Lightstone Ventures [See Deal]	Carrick was formed in January 2015 as Navillus Therapeutics, but came out of stealth mode under its new name, raising funds to support drug development. The company is developing personalized therapeutics for aggressive cancers, including colon, ovarian and breast tumors. It hopes to move preclinical projects into the clinic in 2017 independently, and is also eyeing outside partnerships to in-license additional assets. (Also see "Carrick Therapeutics Lays Foundation For 'Leading Oncology Business'" - Scrip, 3 October, 2016.)
Tioma Therapeutics Inc.; St. Louis, Missouri and Brisbane, California	Tioma Therapeutics raised $86m through its Series A venture round. RiverVest Venture Partners, Novo Ventures, Roche Venture Fund and SR One co-led the round. [See Deal]	Tioma was formed as Vasulox in 2006, and has subsisted on multiple seed rounds up until the Series A came through. The company is working on anti-CD47 antibodies and will use the proceeds from the financing to bring its lead candidate – an anti-CD47 immune checkpoint inhibitor – through proof-of-concept trials. (Also see "VC Roundup: Moderna Seeks Another Record-Breaking Raise; Arcus Emerges From Stealth Mode" - Scrip, 31 August, 2016.)
Forty Seven Inc.; Palo Alto, California	The Stanford University spin-out raised the first half of a $75m Series A round; co-lead investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures were joined by Clarus Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures) in the financing [See Deal]	Forty Seven will use the money to continue two Phase II trials for lead drug candidate Hu5F9G4, a humanized monoclonal antibody against CD47 that is being studied for relapsed or refractory solid tumors or acute myeloid leukemia. Proceeds will also support additional trials in combination with other therapies as well as other preclinical projects. Hu5F9-G4 was originally discovered by Forty Seven founder Irv Weissman, a Stanford researcher who together with his team decided to launch the company to take the candidate and related intellectual property into further development. (Also see "Forty Seven Raises $75 Million For Possible 'Universal' Cancer Therapy" - Scrip, 3 March, 2016.)
C4 Therapeutics Inc.; Cambridge, Massachusetts (Also see " Video Interview: C4 Therapeutics Targets Protein Degradation " - Scrip, 9 February, 2016.)	C4 Therapeutics raised $73.5m in Series A financing from 55 investors led by angel backers Cobro Ventures (run by C4's chairman Marc Cohen), plus Cormorant Asset Management, the Kraft Group, EG Capital Group, Roche and Novartis AG[See Deal]	The company holds exclusive rights to its Degronimid technology from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Bradner Laboratory. Degronimids are small molecules tagged with ubiquitin, a critical component of the cell's ubiquitin/proteasome pathway, which enables the cell's natural ability to degrade cell cycle regulatory proteins and misfolded proteins. These targeted protein degradation therapeutics are able to bind to, degrade and clear disease-causing proteins from the cell in multiple indications, including cancer and neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and orphan diseases. (Also see "C4 Therapeutics Start-up Starts With Roche Tie-Up, $73m Series A" - Scrip, 7 January, 2016.)
NextCure Inc.; New Haven, Connecticut	Oncology therapeutics start-up NextCure raised $67m through its Series A round from Canaan Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Pfizer Inc., Sofinnova Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments [See Deal]	The company was formed last year by Michael Richman and Lieping Chen, both former executives with Amplimmune Inc., a company developing immune-mediating cancer therapies that was bought by MedImmune LLC in 2013. During their time at Amplimmune, Richman and Chen worked on treatments that targeted the PD-1 pathway, and will continue to do the same now with NextCure. (Chen pioneered research in the area of PD-1/PD-L1 targeting through his work at Yale University and the Yale School of Medicine.) NextCure plans to develop next-generation immunotherapies licensed from Chen's lab. (Also see "Immuno-Oncology Startup Snatches $67m In Series A" - Scrip, 8 January, 2016.)
Aptinyx Inc.; Evanston, Illinois	Aptinyx raised $65m in a Series A round led by New Leaf Venture Partners and joined by Frazier Healthcare Partners, Longitude Capital and Osage University Partners; other participants included returning seed investors Adams Street Partners, LVP Life Science Ventures, PathoCapital, Goudy Park Capital, Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Co. and Northwestern University [See Deal]	Spun out of Naurex last year before Naurex's acquisition by Allergan PLC, Aptinyx owns the Naurex-originated N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor modulators discovery platform. (It also granted Allergan an option to license NMDA compounds resulting from the platform.) The company will use the proceeds to fund initial clinical studies for a lead drug candidate and to continue discovery efforts for other orally available small-molecule NMDA receptor modulators for CNS disorders. Aptinyx's compounds have shown efficacy in disease models of depression, neuropathic pain, migraine, traumatic brain injury and age-induced learning impairment. (Also see "Aptinyx Cashes In Post-Naurex Cache With $65m Series A" - Scrip, 10 May, 2016.)
Zymeworks Inc.; Vancouver, Canada	Zymeworks raised $61.5m through a Series A mezzanine round; new investors BDC Capital and Lumira Capital co-led, and were joined by Perceptive Advisors, Teralys Capital, Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, Brace Pharma Capital and Merlin Nexus as well as existing backers Eli Lilly & Co., Celgene Corp., CTI Life Sciences Fund and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ [See Deal]	The company is developing bispecific antibodies and conjugates for cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Series A proceeds will fund development of ZW25 and ZW33; both breast cancer projects are expected to enter clinical trials later this year. Concurrent with the financing, Zymeworks separately announced that it made an equity investment in the antibody-drug conjugate developer Kairos Therapeutics Inc.; the companies also have an option to merge at a later time. (Also see "VC Round-Up: Microbiome Focused Lodo, T-Cell Firm Tmunity, And More" - Scrip, 15 January, 2016.)

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