Led · Seed · Jul 2024

Apriori Bio develops Octavia™, a biology-informed AI platform that characterizes large libraries of viral variants for cell binding and immune evasion, then uses machine learning to map mutations with high escape potential. The platform combines computational insights and experimental biological data, including analysis of evolutionary trees and interactions between mutations, to predict where viral variability is most likely to occur. Insights from Octavia are intended to guide vaccine design and updates and to inform public-health policy in real time. The company was founded in 2020 by Flagship Pioneering and is led by CEO Lovisa Afzelius. Apriori is based in Boston, MA. The article reports a recent funding event in which the company received financial support to continue advancing Octavia and to expand focus beyond coronavirus. Apriori Bio, founded in 2020 and based in Cambridge, MA, develops tools to protect humanity from rapidly evolving viruses. Its core product, Octavia, is a biology-informed AI platform that can infer the full landscape of potential variants for a given virus. Using Octavia, Apriori defines the antibody repertoire that most broadly protects against current and future variants, enabling development of variant-proof vaccines and antibody drugs. The platform can also inform public health policy in real time by predicting the impact of emerging variants. Flagship Pioneering announced an initial $50 million commitment at launch to fund Apriori's work. Apriori aims to design vaccines and antibody therapeutics that anticipate viral evolution to provide long-term, variant-resistant protection.

Led · Equity · May 2024

BioNTech is a German biotech focused on mRNA vaccines and related therapeutics. The company is expanding its mRNA research and manufacturing footprint in Africa by enhancing its facility in Kigali, Rwanda. It will use CEPI funding to boost R&D capacity, support preclinical and clinical research by African researchers and organizations, and pursue vaccine development for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. BioNTech has agreed to dedicate up to half of the Rwanda facility's manufacturing capacity for public health emergencies and will seek regulatory authorization for the site. Financially, BioNTech reported Q1 2024 revenue of $202 million, down from nearly $1.38 billion in Q1 2023, and a Q1 net loss of $340 million (or $1.41 per share). The company has also pursued oncology partnerships as it adjusts to a post‑pandemic market. BioNTech develops individualized immunotherapies including mRNA-based product candidates, chimeric antigen receptor T cells, novel checkpoint immunomodulators, targeted antibodies and small molecules. Its pipeline comprises seven product candidates in eight ongoing clinical trials. The company has established a second GMP manufacturing license for production of its individualized neoantigen-specific immunotherapies and recently acquired a Phase I/IIa program from MabVax Therapeutics. BioNTech was founded in 2008 and is based in Mainz, Germany, and has also established a US research and development facility in San Diego. The company plans to use financing proceeds to advance its therapeutics pipeline and expand manufacturing infrastructure. Shareholders and investors include the Struengmann Family Office as majority shareholder and institutional investors such as Fidelity, Redmile, Invus, Janus Henderson and others. BioNTech develops precise and individualized immunotherapies, including individualized mRNA-based candidates, chimeric antigen receptors, T‑cell receptor compounds, checkpoint immunomodulators and small molecules. The company integrates diagnostics, drug development and manufacturing under one roof to accelerate programs. It describes itself as Europe’s largest privately‑held biopharmaceutical company and cites over 60 peer‑reviewed publications, including five in Nature. BioNTech extended its research collaboration with Sanofi, which has invested €80 million (approx. USD 91.5 million) in equity. The collaboration includes co‑development and co‑commercialization of a cancer immunotherapy candidate that is entering clinical testing in multiple solid tumors. The investigational therapy is an intratumorally injected mRNA mixture encoding immunomodulatory cytokines intended to stimulate innate and adaptive anti‑tumor immune responses while potentially reducing systemic toxicities. BioNTech is a biopharmaceutical company advancing individualized cancer immunotherapies. Its technologies include individualized mRNA-based medicines, chimeric antigen receptors, T-cell receptor-based products and novel checkpoint immunomodulators. The company plans to use new capital to advance its clinical pipeline across multiple approaches, including mRNA and CAR-T/T-cell receptor therapies for cancer and other diseases. BioNTech completed a $270M Series A financing to fund these efforts. Founded in 2008 and based in Mainz, Germany, the company has secured top-tier corporate partnerships with Genentech, Genmab, Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Bayer Animal Health. The Struengmann Family Office, an existing investor, participated in the Series A.