Venture Capital Deals At A Glance
Company	Financing
Renexxion Ireland Ltd.; Roscrea, Ireland	The private firm focused on treatments for gastrointestinal disorders said on 12 April that it entered into a share subscription agreement with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS in Luxembourg under which the private equity group will invest up to $100m in Renexxion within 36 months after a public listing. The company did not indicate when and where it will go public but said the arrangement with GEM will provide certainty and faster access to capital once Renexxion is a public firm. The proceeds of any such financing will fund development of lead program naronapride and additional programs. Naronapride has serotonin 5HT4 receptor agonist and dopamine D2 receptor antagonist properties and is Phase III-ready in chronic idiopathic constipation and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Ansa Biotechnologies Inc.; Emeryville, CA	Ansa revealed on 11 April that it closed a $68m series A round led by Northpond Ventures, bringing its total funding to date to $82m. The company will use the proceeds to accelerate the development of its next-generation enzymatic DNA synthesis technology based on polymerase-nucleotide conjugates, build high-throughput synthesizers, and launch its DNA synthesis service. Ansa aims to open up a bottleneck in the biotech industry in which drug developers and others are having a hard time getting complex DNA sequences synthesized.
Ensem Therapeutics, Inc.; Boston	Ensem announced on 6 April that it emerged from stealth with the closing of a $67m series A2 financing led by GGV Capital. The proceeds to be used to advance its Kinetic Ensemble platform to develop small molecule precision medicines for oncology. The biotech claims to integrate computational and artificial intelligence deep learning methodologies with advanced experimental techniques to identify non-obvious binding pockets and accelerate structure-based drug design, with a focus on high-value and difficult-to-drug targets. The company believes its precision medicine approach could be expanded into genetic disorders.
Alzheon Inc.; Framingham, MA	The company said on 14 April that it plans to speed up completion of the Phase III APOLLOE4 clinical trial for Alzheimer’s drug candidate ALZ-801 with $50m from a recently closed series D financing. The oral drug is designed to stop the formation of amyloid oligomers without disrupting insoluble amyloid plaque deposits. Alzheon, which gave up on a plan to go public in the US in 2019, previously announced in 2020 that it won a five-year, $47m grant to fund development of ALZ-801 from the National Institute of Aging. (Also see "Finance Watch: 2020 Is Four Biopharma IPOs Away From Matching 2019" - Scrip, 22 August, 2020.)
Cimeio Therapeutics AG; Basel, Switzerland and Boston	Versant Ventures launched Cimeio on 13 April with a commitment of $50m in series A funding for the development of novel cell therapies for rare genetic diseases, hematologic malignancies and autoimmune disorders. The company’s initial focus is a novel approach to hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) and adoptive cell therapy (ACT) known as cell-shielding and precisely paired immunotherapies, which together make HSCT and ACT viable options for more patients. Cimeio aims to take its first programs into the clinic in 2023.
LTZ Therapeutics, Inc.; Palo Alto, CA and Shenzhen, China	LTZ, which is developing immunotherapies that it believes will be capable of overcoming treatment resistance and boosting anti-tumor immunity, said on 7 April that it raised $17m in a pre-series A financing led by K2 Venture Partners with participation from Qiming Venture Partners and Tigermed. The company said the funds will be used to develop its three-pronged platform (to reduce immunosuppression, reprogram innate immunity and modulate adaptive immunity), establish its initial pipeline and further build its operations team.
Oncomatryx; Bilbao, Spain	The Spanish firm disclosed €15m ($16.2m) in new financing on 19 April from current shareholders as well as national and international family offices. Oncomatryx is developing tumor microenvironment-targeted antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and plans to take its lead ADC known as OMTX705 into Phase I clinical trials in the treatment of metastatic solid tumors during the second quarter of 2022. Between 2022 and 2024, the company expects to have $50m from its investors and existing licensing deals to fund its development of OMTX705 and other ADCs.
Surf Bio, Inc.; Palo Alto, CA	Breakout Ventures and the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund co-led a $16m seed round that Surf Bio announced on 12 April to fund the advancement of its polymer-based drug delivery platform and accelerate the development of an ultra-rapid insulin for diabetes. The company has entered into agreements with various partners interested in its drug stabilization platform, which may enable increased drug concentrations, reduced refrigeration dependence and hard-to-formulate therapeutics.
Kynos Therapeutics Ltd; Edinburgh, Scotland	Kynos emerged from stealth mode on 7 April with £9m ($11.8m) in grant and VC funding to finance its lead kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) inhibitor program through Phase I clinical trials and progress its pipeline of first-in-class KMO inhibitors across inflammation, immunity and metabolism indications. The company’s initial focus is critical illness after surgery, conditions driven by inflammation and cancers where inflammation prevents the immune system from fighting back. Kynos was spun out of the University of Edinburgh based on KMO inhibitor technology developed under a collaboration between the university and GlaxoSmithKline plc; GSK is eligible to earn a royalty if any drugs based on the technology are approved and commercialized.
Prilenia Therapeutics BV; Naarden, Netherlands	The company, which closed a $43m series B round in November, said on 12 April that it added another $10m to the round from SV Health Investors, bringing Prilenia’s total capital raised to date to $144m. (Also see "Finance Watch: CF Foundation Commits $110m In Partnership With Flagship’s Pioneering Medicines" - Scrip, 3 November, 2021.) The new funding will support the company’s development of pridopidine in the Phase II/III HEALEY ALS platform trial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in the Phase III PROOF-HD clinical trial in Huntington’s disease; results from the two studies are expected in late 2022 and early 2023, respectively.
Elastrin Therapeutics Inc.; Greenville, SC	Elastrin said on 7 April that it closed a $10m funding round led by Kizoo Technology Capital to fund its development of therapeutics that restores degraded elastin to make calcified tissues and organs supple again. The company, spun out of Clemson University in 2018, plans to start clinical trials in 2023. Its lead drug candidate ELT-001 – an EDTA-loaded nanoparticle conjugated with a proprietary monoclonal antibody – is designed to treat vascular calcification in cardiovascular disease.
Receptor Life Sciences (RLS); Seattle	Granite Point Capital led a $9.7m series A-1 financing that RLS announced on 7 April to fund development of RLS103, a dry powder inhaled cannabidiol, through clinical proof-of-concept studies. The company is developing RLS103 for the acute treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders, including acute anxiety disorders.

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