Led · Series A · Mar 2021

Outpace Bio develops engineered T cell therapies using AI-powered protein design to program immune cells for improved function inside patients with solid tumors. The company is advancing an internal pipeline of programmed T cell product candidates, led by CEO and co-founder Marc Lajoie, PhD. Its lead program, OPB-101, is a mesothelin-specific CAR T cell enhanced by Outpace’s OUTSMART™, OUTLAST™, OUTSPACER™, and OUTSAFE™ technologies. OPB-101 is on track for IND clearance and first dosing in 2025 for patients with advanced platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. Proceeds from the recent financing will be used to advance multiple candidates to early clinical proof-of-concept and to expand the company’s plug-and-play technology platform for future programs. The company is based in Seattle, WA. Outpace Bio is developing a platform to create next-generation smart cell therapies by applying protein design and synthetic biology. The company combines the design of improved biological functions with cellular control modalities to harness cellular biology's complexity and improve safety and efficacy of cell and gene therapies. Founded by Lyell co-founders Marc Lajoie and Scott Boyken and a scientific team spun out of Lyell Immunopharma, the team has spent the past two years addressing challenges facing anticancer T cell therapies. Outpace is expanding beyond T cells to bring its technology across the broader cell and gene therapy field. The company closed a $30m Series A financing and intends to use the funds to demonstrate proof of principle for its platform. It also entered a collaboration with Lyell Immunopharma for joint research and potential development and commercialization of an immune cell therapy for cancer.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2020

Sonoma Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech focused on engineered regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies to restore immune balance in serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company employs proprietary platform technologies and approaches to develop a new generation of targeted and durable gene-modified Treg cell therapies. Led by CEO Jeff Bluestone, Sonoma Bio operates out of San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA. In March 2023 the company entered a collaboration and license agreement with Regeneron to research, develop and commercialize Treg therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and two other undisclosed indications, with a Regeneron option for a fifth indication. The collaboration integrates Regeneron’s VelociSuite technologies for discovery and characterization of fully human antibodies and T cell receptors with Sonoma Bio’s development and manufacturing approach. Sonoma plans to use the newly received funds to expand operations and its R&D sector. Sonoma Biotherapeutics pioneers adoptive regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies and a complementary Teff conditioning biologic to promote immune tolerance in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its platform uses genome editing and target‑specific cell therapy to develop disease‑modifying, potentially curative medicines. The company’s two most advanced programs are SBT-77-7101, a CAR‑based Treg therapy for refractory rheumatoid arthritis, and SBT-11-5301, a Teff conditioning biologic being investigated as monotherapy for Type 1 diabetes and as a conditioning agent to enhance Treg efficacy. Sonoma plans to advance these programs into the clinic and to continue discovery work on additional Treg programs. Proceeds from the recent financing will also be used to scale manufacturing capacity to support initial clinical studies. The company was founded by leaders in Treg biology and cell therapy and combines genetic engineering, development, and manufacturing capabilities to translate its approach into clinical trials. Sonoma Biotherapeutics is developing adoptive regulatory T-cell (Treg) therapies using next-generation genome editing and target-specific cell therapy to treat autoimmune and degenerative diseases. The company aims to move cell therapy beyond cancer into indications including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS and Alzheimer’s. Sonoma recently expanded its Series A to $70 million to advance its pipeline and platform capabilities. The financing and new hires are intended to support research, development and manufacturing of next-generation Treg therapeutics. Leadership additions include a new chief medical officer and vice presidents for portfolio/program/alliance management and discovery. Sonoma is based in South San Francisco and Seattle and was founded by pioneers in Treg biology and cell therapy. Sonoma Biotherapeutics is developing engineered regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies aimed at restoring self-tolerance and halting harmful inflammatory responses in autoimmune and degenerative diseases. Its programs target conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS and Alzheimer’s. The company combines research, development and manufacturing capabilities in cell therapy and genetic engineering to advance Treg candidates from target identification through preclinical and clinical development. Sonoma emphasizes engineering Tregs to target disease-causing antigens to reduce systemic effects and improve tissue-specific control of inflammation. The team includes founder and CEO Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, and three other founding Treg field scientists, as well as executives and board members with deep cell therapy experience. Sonoma operates out of South San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2020

CERo Therapeutics is a privately held biopharmaceutical company pioneering cell‑based therapies that incorporate multiple forms of tumor cell clearance into single engineered immune cells via its CER‑T platform. The platform combines innate and adaptive signaling mechanisms and synthetic biology to broaden the capability and tolerability of engineered T cells against difficult‑to‑treat solid tumors. CERo owns the CER‑T platform outright, maintains an internal team of about a dozen researchers, has filed multiple patent applications and has related scientific publications. The company announced a research collaboration with Lyell Immunopharma to pursue proof‑of‑concept studies combining CERo’s CER‑T technology with Lyell’s T‑cell capabilities. Proceeds from a recently completed financing are being used to expand start‑up operations and advance the CER‑T platform into preclinical and clinical development. CERo’s long‑term aim is to create powerful therapeutics for a broad range of cancers and other human diseases.

Led · Series E · Mar 2020

Eureka Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area (Emeryville, Calif.) focused on developing novel T cell therapies for solid tumors. Its core technologies include the proprietary ARTEMIS® AbTCR T-cell receptor platform and the E-ALPHA® antibody discovery platform for discovery and development of potentially safer and more effective T cell therapies. The company’s lead asset, ET140202, is in a Phase I/II U.S. multicenter clinical trial in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Eureka is advancing an anti-AFP ARTEMIS® Phase I/II clinical trial in the United States and is continuing development of its TCR-mimic and antibody-TCR ARTEMIS® programs. TCR-mimic antibodies are designed to recognize tumor-specific peptide/MHC complexes, enabling targeting of intracellular cancer-associated proteins that are not accessible to conventional antibodies or small molecules. The company will use proceeds from the Series E to accelerate these programs and clinical development. Eureka Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Emeryville, California, focused on improving the safety profile of T cell therapies and developing novel T cell therapies for hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Its core technologies include the proprietary ARTEMIS™ T cell receptor platform and the E-ALPHA® phage display library for discovery and engineering of human antibodies against intracellular targets via the MHC class I complex. The company is developing a pipeline targeting intracellular oncogenes as well as cell-surface antigens, with lead candidate ET190L1-ARTEMIS™ T cells in clinical development for relapsed and refractory CD19+ Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. In November 2017 the U.S. FDA approved its IND and authorized a Phase I trial for ET190L1-ARTEMIS™, and Eureka expected to enroll the first patient at Duke University in Q1 2018. Eureka intends to use the Series D proceeds to advance ET190L1-ARTEMIS™ in that indication and to accelerate its broader immunotherapy pipeline against other hematological and solid tumors. The company is led by President and CEO Cheng Liu, PhD. Eureka Therapeutics is a Bay Area cancer immunotherapy company engineering monoclonal antibodies to mimic T cell receptors and recognize peptides from intracellular proteins presented on MHC. Its approach aims to target the roughly 90% of cancer-specific targets that are intracellular and traditionally considered undruggable. The company’s antibodies are designed to galvanize a patient’s immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells presenting those peptides. Eureka has a preclinical monoclonal antibody, ESK1, that targets the intracellular protein WT1 and was co-developed with Memorial Sloan‑Kettering Cancer Center. Earlier this year the company signed a license agreement with Novartis to develop and commercialize ESK1. Financially, Eureka recently completed a $21 million Series C to further advance its intracellular-targeting antibody programs. Eureka Therapeutics develops antibodies used to treat cancer. The company raised $6 million in a second-round financing to continue development of those antibodies. It also conducts outsourced antibody research services for other firms. The firm is based in Emeryville, Calif. Eureka previously completed a $1.6 million first round in 2006. The company is using the new financing to advance its antibody development programs.