Participated · Series A · Jul 2026

Founded in 2021, SynMetabio develops bio-based leather and polymer materials using synthetic biology and AI-driven R&D across its research and production chain. Its core products are the Mulkol series, positioned across synthetic-leather and genuine-leather replacement scenarios (Mulkol-3 as an affordable synthetic leather alternative and Mulkol-5 as a premium genuine-leather alternative). The company embeds AI into strain screening, gene-editing design, fermentation parameter optimization, and mass-production yield control to accelerate material discovery and scale-up. SynMetabio has established a light-asset production collaboration with listed Jujie Microfiber via a joint venture, Anhui Juyi Technology Co., Ltd., with a leather production line capacity exceeding 16 million square meters annually. It has secured commercial partnerships with global clients across apparel, footwear, luggage, home furnishings, hospitality and consumer electronics, including collaborations with Anta, Atour, and Kempinski, and reports cumulative European orders approaching RMB 100 million. The company is expanding upstream into elastomer raw materials and exploring applications in films, rubber materials, packaging and industrial films as it builds a broader materials and bio-based innovation platform.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

PAQ Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on leveraging targeted protein degradation to suppress oncogenic KRAS signaling in cancer. Its lead candidates include PT0253, a KRAS G12D degrader, and PT0511, a pan-KRAS degrader designed to address multiple oncogenic KRAS variants. The company has initiated a first-in-human, open-label Phase 1 trial of PT0511 to evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary anti-tumor activity in patients with KRAS-altered solid tumors. Proceeds from recent financing will also support the ongoing Phase 1 development of PT0253. PAQ’s platform aspires to achieve deep, selective tumor suppression while maintaining favorable safety and combinability profiles, potentially overcoming limitations of current KRAS or pan-RAS inhibitor therapies. The firm’s total Series B capital now stands at $77 million, providing a strengthened balance sheet to advance multiple clinical programs.

Participated · Series A · May 2021

Engine Biosciences combines machine learning-enabled network biology and high-throughput combinatorial genetics to discover precision oncology targets, biomarkers, and drug candidates. Its proprietary platforms, NetMAPPR and CombiGEM, integrate proprietary functional genomics, clinical data and AI-enhanced literature mining to map disease networks and validate findings. Engine has identified over thirty previously unidentified precision medicine opportunities and advanced multiple internal programs, including ENB-812, which originated from Engine’s discovery of PKMYT1 as a synthetic lethal target. The company reports biomarkers that can sensitize tumors up to 100-fold to specific investigational drugs and holds an extensive patent portfolio. With teams in Singapore and Silicon Valley, Engine is advancing its pipeline toward the clinic through internal development, collaborations, and partnerships. The new financing is intended to further progress biomarker and target discoveries into clinical translation. Engine Biosciences develops a platform that integrates machine learning, high-throughput biological experimentation, combinatorial genetics, and chemistry to uncover critical gene interactions for drug discovery. Its core technologies are NetMAPPR, a searchable biology platform for predicting gene combinations and targets, and CombiGEM, a combinatorial CRISPR system for experimentally testing hundreds of thousands of gene interactions. Engine uses iterative predict-test-learn cycles to prioritize high-ranking genes and translate findings into drug discovery and chemistry efforts. The company has advanced novel biology findings into proprietary small-molecule inhibitors and a growing pipeline of targeted therapies for genetically defined patient populations in liver, ovarian, colorectal, and breast cancers. Engine plans to expand its precision oncology portfolio, prepare for its first clinical programs, and scale its proprietary technology platform. Financially, the company recently closed a $43M Series A and has raised $53M to date, including a $10M seed round in 2018. Engine Biosciences is advancing a data-driven drug discovery platform that combines massively parallel biological experimentation with artificial intelligence to discover and develop therapies. The company applies its technology across four areas: drug repositioning, new target discovery, precision medicine enablement, and pathway analysis. Engine reports proof of concept across various disease indications and cell types and has active programs in cancer, neurodegeneration, autoimmune, and skin. The company plans to use the seed funding to build its drug discovery platform, expand its scientific and executive teams in Singapore and San Francisco, and pursue preclinical studies internally and with partners. Scientific leadership includes Co-Founder and CEO Jeffrey Lu and scientific founders/academic leaders Timothy Lu, Hu Li, Prashant Mali, and Jim Collins.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2021

Senti Biosciences develops next‑generation cell and gene therapies using a proprietary Gene Circuit platform to create therapies with enhanced precision and control. Its wholly owned pipeline utilizes off‑the‑shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR‑NK) cells outfitted with Gene Circuits to target challenging liquid and solid tumors. SENTI‑202 is a potential first‑in‑class Logic Gated off‑the‑shelf CAR‑NK product candidate designed to selectively target CD33 and/or FLT3 expressing hematologic malignancies while sparing healthy bone marrow cells, combining OR and NOT gates plus calibrated‑release IL‑15 technology. The Phase 1 dose‑finding trial of SENTI‑202 is ongoing, enrolling adult patients with relapsed/refractory CD33 and/or FLT3 expressing hematologic malignancies at sites in the United States and Australia. Initial efficacy data from the trial is anticipated by year‑end 2024, with initial durability data expected in 2025. Financially, Senti Bio announced an $8 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicines to support SENTI‑202 clinical development; the company is publicly listed (Nasdaq: SNTI) and has partnerships with Spark Therapeutics and BlueRock Therapeutics. Senti Bio engineers proprietary gene circuits to program cell and gene therapies, using off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cells outfitted with these circuits. Its lead programs include SENTI-202, an OR+NOT logic-gated CAR-NK candidate for acute myeloid leukemia, and SENTI-301, a multi-armed CAR-NK candidate for hepatocellular carcinoma. The company plans to file Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for both candidates in 2023 and has presented preclinical proof-of-concept data at ASGCT, AACR and ASH. Senti Bio has executed partnerships with Spark Therapeutics and BlueRock Therapeutics to advance its platform beyond oncology. The company is based in South San Francisco, Calif., and emphasizes programmable biological logic to improve therapeutic precision, durability and safety. Senti Biosciences uses synthetic biology to engineer gene circuits that program cells to sense their environment, perform logic, and produce therapeutic functions for improved cell- and gene-based medicines. Its proprietary platform includes logic gates, small-molecule regulators, combinatorial payloads and synthetic promoters, and the team has designed, built and tested thousands of gene circuits. Senti Bio is building an internal pipeline focused on next-generation allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies, with lead candidates SENTI-202 for acute myeloid leukemia and SENTI-301 for hepatocellular carcinoma, plus additional undisclosed solid-tumor targets. The platform is intended to be deployable across multiple delivery modalities and therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular disease, regenerative medicine and genetic diseases. Proceeds from a recent financing will support preclinical oncology programs, IND-enabling studies (planned in 2021), expansion of the gene circuit platform into additional modalities, and scaling clinical manufacturing including process development and design of a cGMP-compliant facility for off-the-shelf CAR-NK products. The company communicated the financing in a release citing South San Francisco, Calif., and Leverkusen, Germany. Senti Biosciences develops programmable genetic circuits inserted into human-derived cells to create adaptive therapies that sense, respond to, and be controlled within localized disease environments. The company’s first therapeutic focus is cancer, where engineered cells are designed to locate tumors and selectively trigger an immune response after IV infusion. Senti bases its approach on decades of academic research and on gene‑editing technologies like CRISPR to write new “software” for cellular behavior. The team was assembled from leading labs (MIT, Wyss Institute, MD Anderson, Boston University, ETH Zurich, and others) during three years in stealth. Senti intends to develop therapies tailored to individual biology and to partner with other companies to address additional diseases. The company recently completed a major financing to support these efforts.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2020

RootPath is focused on developing personalized TCR and CAR-T therapies targeting solid tumors. The company’s core product effort centers on individualized T-cell receptor and CAR-T treatments designed for patients with solid cancers. According to the article, RootPath announced an $11 million raise to support development of these personalized treatments. The report does not include operating metrics such as revenue or user numbers. Other corporate details (founding year, location, pipeline specifics) are not provided in the article. RootPath develops a personalized T cell therapy platform aimed at bridging precision medicine and cancer immunotherapy. The company is building next-generation technologies to precisely monitor, modulate and steer the immune system for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Founded in 2017 by Drs. Xi Chen, Le Cong, Yinqing Li and Ely Porter, RootPath was launched by Nest.Bio Ventures and incubated in Nest.Bio Labs in both Cambridge and Hangzhou. The company plans to use its seed proceeds to advance its immuno-oncology programs. RootPath intends to obtain key preclinical data on accuracy, efficacy and safety in animal models. Its current financial update is the $7M seed financing led by Sequoia China.