– 858 Therapeutics has raised $60m in Series A financing.
– The round was led by founding investor Versant Ventures, with participation from NEA, Cormorant Asset Management and Logos Capital.
– 858 is a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
– The company’s lead program is a novel small molecule inhibitor of the PI3K/mTOR pathway that is being developed for the treatment of solid tumors that are resistant to existing therapies.
– The Series A proceeds will allow 858 to enter the clinic with its lead candidates that have potential to treat cancers that are resistant to current therapies.

– iECURE (pronounced EE-ah-cure), a mutation-agnostic in vivo gene editing company striving to cure devastating diseases with high unmet need, announced it has closed a $50m Series A financing led by Versant Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors.
– The funds will be used to advance iECURE’s pipeline of up to 13 programs, all of which benefit from gene editing and in vivo delivery approaches being developed in the laboratory of James Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program (GTP).
– iECURE’s approach focuses on the mutation-agnostic in vivo insertion of healthy copies of disease-causing genes, with an initial focus in liver disorders.

– Jnana Therapeutics, a biotechnology company utilizing its next generation chemoproteomic platform to target SLC transporters and other well-validated but hard-to-drug targets, announced the closing of a $50m Series B financing.
– The financing was led by RA Capital Management, and included all existing investors, including Polaris Partners, Versant Ventures, Avalon Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and Pfizer Ventures.
– Proceeds from this financing will enable Jnana to progress its lead program for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) into clinical development, while advancing a pipeline of additional programs and continuing to invest in its innovative and validated RAPID platform for the discovery of small molecule therapeutics for hard-to-drug targets.

– T-knife Therapeutics, Inc. from Berlin, Germany develops T-cell receptor (TCR) therapeutics for solid tumor patients.
– Company completed a $110m Series B financing.
– The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC., with participation from other new investors including LSP, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Casdin Capital, Sixty Degree Capital, and CaaS Capital, along with existing investors RA Capital Management, Versant Ventures and founding investor Andera Partners.
– The new investment will be used to expand the company’s scientific team, increase manufacturing capacity and advance its pipeline of TCR-T.

– Turnstone Biologics Corp. announced the successful completion of an $80m Series D financing co-led by PFM Health Sciences and Point72.
– New investors include Eventide Asset Management, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Ridgeback Capital Investments, Takeda Ventures, CaaS Capital, JM Family Enterprises, Inc., Northleaf Capital Partners, 404 Bio and an undisclosed investor.
– The round was joined by existing investors Versant Ventures, OrbiMed, F-Prime Capital, Sectoral Asset Management, Sixty Degree Capital, Brace Pharma Capital and Teralys Capital.
– Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Turnstone’s pipeline of programs from its oncolytic virus and TIL therapy platforms.

– LENZ Therapeutics emerged from stealth mode with a $47m Series A financing from Versant Ventures and RA Capital Management.
– Proceeds from the financing will be utilized to progress the company’s lead asset, an eyedrop formulation of aceclidine, towards an NDA submission for the treatment of presbyopia.
– Presbyopia impacts more than 120 million people in the U.S. and almost two billion people globally, and is commonly viewed as the largest ophthalmology market with no current pharmaceutical solutions available to offer to patients.
– Currently the available choices are reading glasses, which are viewed by many patients as very undesirable, or irreversible invasive surgical procedures that have inherent risks.
– As a result, there is high interest from patients in an effective and safe pharmaceutical option.

– RayzeBio, Inc. announced a $108m Series C financing led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners alongside new investors Perceptive Advisors, Vivo Capital, Acuta Capital Partners, Deerfield Management, and TCG X.
– Also participating were all of Rayze’s existing investors: venBio Partners, Versant Ventures, Samsara BioCapital, Redmile Group, Viking Global Investors, Cormorant Asset Management, OrbiMed, LifeSci Venture Partners, Logos Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others.
– The targeted radiopharmaceuticals field represents a highly clinically validated modality that, until recently, has been underappreciated.
– With over $258m of capital raised since the company first debuted in the second half of 2020, RayzeBio has rapidly expanded its team, infrastructure, capabilities, and pipeline.

– Bright Peak Therapeutics announced a $107m Series B financing round.
– RA Capital led the round with participation from founding investor Versant Ventures and new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Qatar Investment Authority, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Alexandria Venture Investments and an undisclosed leading healthcare investment fund.
– Bright Peak uses a novel technology to chemically synthesize therapeutic cytokines by ligating together customized peptide segments.
– Bright Peak’s platform also allows for the conjugation of its enhanced cytokines as payloads to certain antibodies, creating novel and proprietary “Bright Peak Immunocytokines.”
– Bright Peak Immunocytokines will allow tissue- and cell-specific targeting of the cytokine payload with the added potential for synergistic efficacy through potency-enhancing avidity effects.

– Graphite Bio, a next-generation gene editing company focused on therapies that harness targeted gene integration to treat or cure serious diseases, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $150 million Series B financing.
– The company will use the funds to expand and advance into the clinic its pipeline of investigational high efficiency, targeted gene integration therapies with curative potential for serious diseases.
– RA Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital led the financing with significant participation from new investors Cormorant Asset Management, Deerfield Management Company, Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Janus Henderson Investors, Logos Capital, OrbiMed, Perceptive Advisors, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, joining existing investor Samsara BioCapital and founding investor Versant Ventures.

– Vividion Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company utilizing novel discovery technologies to unlock high value, traditionally undruggable targets with precision therapeutics for devastating cancers and immune disorders, announced the completion of a $135 million Series C financing.
– The round was co-led by new investors, Logos Capital and Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group.
– Additional new investors in the raise include SoftBank Investment Advisers, Avoro Capital Advisors, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, RA Capital Management, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Woodline Partners LP, Acuta Capital and Driehaus Capital Management, alongside existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, BVF Partners L.P., Casdin Capital, Mubadala Capital, Nextech Invest and Versant Ventures.

– Pipeline Therapeutics completed an $80m Series C financing round.
– The round was led by a healthcare-focused new investor, with participation by other new investors including Perceptive Advisors, Franklin Templeton, Casdin Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Suvretta Capital, Red Tree Venture Capital, and an undisclosed leading global investment fund.
– All of the company’s existing shareholders, including founding investor Versant Ventures, Sectoral Asset Management and Cleva Pharma (a Brace Pharma affiliate), participated in the round.
– Pipeline Therapeutics plans to use the proceeds to advance its development candidates PIPE-505, in patients with sensorineural hearing loss, and PIPE-307, in patients with multiple sclerosis. Proceeds will also be used to advance additional therapeutic candidates and for general corporate purposes.