Roivant Sciences operates a platform model to create medicines by launching nimble 'Vants'—focused biopharmaceutical and health-technology start-ups. It recently unveiled VantAI, a computational drug-discovery platform for designing and optimizing targeted protein degraders, which began development in early 2019. VantAI has designed degraders for six unique targets to date, and Roivant aims to bring its first candidate from that platform into the clinic in 2021. To support the program and its expansion, Roivant secured a $200 million equity investment as part of a strategic partnership. The funding and partnership are intended to help Roivant build a protein-degrader pipeline and establish multiple biotech start-ups around the platform. The company emphasizes targeted protein degradation as a modality that can improve potency and selectivity and enable targeting of difficult-to-drug proteins. Roivant Sciences is a biotech holding company that builds and funds independent biopharmaceutical subsidiaries, often branded with the “vant” suffix. The firm’s strategy is to create one independent company at a time and serve as an umbrella and financier for those spin-offs. Examples include Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health/endocrine), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), Urovant (urology) and Datavant (healthcare data middleware), as well as newer spin-offs Immunovant, Altavant and Sinovant. Roivant now oversees 14 subsidiaries, employs about 750 people and reports 34 drugs in development. Financially, the company has raised more than $3 billion in total and recently completed a $200M financing at a $7B post-money valuation. The company has faced setbacks (notably Axovant’s failed Alzheimer’s and DLB trials) and conducted layoffs and employee reassignments in June, but continues to support subsidiary financings (for example, Datavant raised $40.5M earlier this year led by Roivant). Roivant builds and operates subsidiary biopharma companies (each with “vant” in the name) that acquire and advance abandoned or shelved drug candidates toward commercialization. Its subsidiaries include Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health/endocrine), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases) and Urovant (urology). Roivant is also launching Datavant, a tech-focused subsidiary aimed at using AI to unlock insights in healthcare datasets, improve trial design, enable virtual pooled-placebo trials, and identify molecular targets. The company was founded by Vivek Ramaswamy in 2014 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. Roivant has taken subsidiaries public: Axovant completed a 2015 IPO that raised $360 million (its shares opened at $15 and were trading at $23 at the time of the article) and Myovant went public in 2016. Prior financings include investments from hedge funds such as Viking Global Investors, QVT Financial, and Dexcel Pharma. The company’s strategy focuses on quickly advancing clinical-stage assets by forming focused operating subsidiaries around each asset.

Total raised

$1.5B

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Dec 2020