BioSpace is proud to present its NextGen Bio “Class of 2022,” a list of up-and-coming life sciences companies in North America that recently launched.
BioSpace is proud to present its NextGen Bio “Class of 2022,” a list of up-and-coming life sciences companies in North America that recently launched.
To come up with this list, BioSpace looked at companies that launched between September 2020 and September 2021 with Series A funding. They were then weighted by several different categories and ranked in a cumulative fashion, based on the points awarded for each category. These categories were: finance, collaborations, pipeline, growth potential and innovation.
The NextGen Bio Class of 2022 is a stellar group of companies that are already making an enormous impact on the industry now and will continue into the future. Congratulations to this group!
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1. SomaLogic, Inc.
Launched: November 2020
Location: Boulder, CO
Notable:
• Founded at the turn of the 21st century by Larry Gold, SomaLogic established itself as a leader in proteomics before raising a $214 million Series A in 2020 and going public through a SPAC merger with CM Life Sciences II in March 2021.
• A little more than a year out from its first financing round, SomaLogic has already built a workforce of 283 employees and counting.
• SomaLogic aims to revolutionize the life sciences R&D space with its SOMASCAN® technology. The platform provides 7,000 highly reproducible measurements of circulating proteins from a single sample of plasma, serum, or urine. SomaLogic says the technology is “dynamic, reproducible, specific and sensitive.”
2. Umoja Biopharma
Launched: November 2020
Location: Seattle, WA
Notable:
• Umoja’s unique immunotherapy approach aims to re-engineer a patient’s own immune system in vivo to attack and destroy hematologic and solid organ-based tumors. The company already has three candidates in preclinical development, targeting CD19, PSMA, Carbonic Anhydrase IX (CAIX) and FAP, among others.
• Less than a year after its Series A launch, Umoja raised an additional $210 M in Series B financing which will be used to advance the pipeline into the clinic and build internal manufacturing capabilities.
• In August, the company broke ground on a new manufacturing facility in Louisville, Colorado.
3. Eikon Therapeutics
Launched: May 2021
Location: Hayward, CA
Notable:
• Nestled in the East San Francisco Bay area, Eikon launched with $148 million in Series A funds and former Merck Research Laboratories President Roger Perlmutter at the helm.
• Eikon describes its technology as a “groundbreaking approach to elucidating the behavior of proteins in live cells.” The company is tracking and measuring the movement of individual proteins in order to understand their role in disease biology.
• Adding more sparkle is co-founder Eric Betzig, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 for his pioneering work in super-resolution microscopy.
4. Dyno Therapeutics
Launched: May 2021
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• AI and gene therapy are two of biopharma’s hottest spaces, so it is no surprise that Dyno, which combines both, raked in $100 million in Series A funds.
• Dyno’s mission is to “build the ideal capsid and solve the challenges of vivo gene delivery.”
• The company’s CapsidMap platform leverages artificial intelligence to improve the design of gene therapies and make them safer, more effective and applicable to more diseases.
• Dyno places a big emphasis on collaboration, and already has partnerships with Roche, Novartis, Spark Therapeutics and Sarepta Therapeutics.
5. LEXEO Therapeutics
Launched: January 2021
Location: New York, NY
Notable:
• Gene therapy garners a lot of attention and money – and LEXEO Therapeutics is no exception. The New York-based biopharma company kicked off 2021 with an $85 million Series A round and pulled in a $100 million Series B in September.
• LEXEO’s lead programs target Alzheimer’s disease and Batten disease. Coming up behind those two are drug candidates for cardiac Friedreich’s Ataxia and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
• In July 2021, LEXEO acquired Stelios Therapeutics to expand its pipeline for rare cardiovascular diseases.
• Prior to embarking on his current journey with LEXEO, CEO R. Nolan Townsend served as president, Pfizer Rare Disease for the North America and International regions.
6. GentiBio, Inc.
Launched: August 2021
Location: Boston, MA
Notable:
• Seizing upon one of the year’s largest Series A rounds with $157 million, GentiBio is attempting to restore immune tolerance with engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs).
• GentiBio is developing a candidate for childhood for type 1 diabetes.
• Genti, in Latin, means “a congregation of peoples” and the company is looking to make good on its name, with plans to ramp up its headcount to around 90 people.
• In July 2021, GentiBio announced a viral vector contract development and GMP manufacturing partnership with Forge Biologics. The program will leverage Forge’s Blaze Vector™ production platform, and all manufacturing will take place in Columbus, Ohio.
7. Prime Medicine
Launched: July 2021
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• Cambridge-based Prime Medicine emerged from stealth in July with a $315 million bang (including $115 million in Series A financing).
• Prime Editing works like a DNA word processor, searching for and replacing genetic sequences at their exact location in the genome without making double-strand breaks in DNA. This could alleviate concerns about toxicities or unwanted cellular changes.
• The “search and replace” technology was developed by co-founders David R. Liu, Ph.D. and Andrew Anzalone, M.D., Ph.D.
• At the time of the launch, CEO Keith Gottesdiener said the company has made “great progress” in advancing its technology during the past year.
8. AavantiBio
Launched: October 2020
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• Launched in October 2020 with a $107 million Series A financing round that included Perceptive Advisors, Bain Capital Life Sciences and RA Capital Management.
• AavantiBio is helmed by former Sarepta Therapeutics chief commercial officer and EVP Bo Cumbo. (Sarepta also kicked in a $15 million equity investment).
• The company leverages an AAV-mediated gene transfer therapy to target the neurological and cardiac manifestations of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA).
• Over the past year, the company has been recruiting industry veterans and experts to lead it into the future.
9. Aro Biotherapeutics
Launched: January 2021
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Notable:
• Aro launched January 5, 2021, with $88 million in Series A financing.
• The targeted genetic medicine company is leveraging Centyrin-conjugated RNA therapies in the service of solving rare genetic and immune disorders.
• Aro is partnering with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, a leader in antisense oligonucleotides. The pair are researching programs in several disease areas.
• “By exploiting new mechanisms of action, Centyrin-RNA conjugates have the potential to achieve superior efficacy and safety in treating intractable diseases,” said Aro Co-founder and CEO Susan Dillon, Ph.D. at the time of the launch.
10. ArriVent Biopharma
Launched: June 2021
Location: Newtown Square, PA
Notable:
• ArriVent came out swinging in June 2021 with $150 million in Series A financing and a lung cancer treatment licensed from Allist Pharmaceuticals.
• Allist received approval in China for furmonertinib in March 2021 for the treatment of EGFR T790M mutation-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. ArriVent plans to file an investigational new drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• ArriVent’s strategy centers around identifying certain compounds “validated through rigorous discovery and development processes in China,” said ArriVent CEO Bing Yao, Ph.D.
11. Elucida Oncology
Launched: January 2021
Location: Monmouth Junction, NJ
Notable:
• Elucida continued down the Series A path it began in 2018, closing Series A-1 financing of $44 million in January 2021 to bring the total funding to $72 million.
• Elucida is zeroing in on tumors with its engineered C’Dot technology. “C’Dots” precisely target and penetrate tumors to deliver their payloads. Their ultra-small size enables efficient clearance through the kidneys.
• In September 2021, the company dosed the first patient in a Phase I/II clinical study of ELU001, a C’Dot Drug Conjugate (CDC) being developed to treat advanced, recurrent or refractory cancers overexpressing folate-receptor alpha (FRα).
• The company’s lead programs are in ovarian cancer and primary glioma.
12. Graphite Bio
Launched: September 2020
Location: South San Francisco, CA
Notable:
• One of the earliest members of the 2022 class, Graphite Bio launched in September 2020 with $45 million in Series A financing. The company then picked up another $150 million in Series B funds and hit the Nasdaq in June through a $238 million IPO.
• Graphite Bio is developing gene therapies with a unique platform utilizing CRISPR and natural DNA repair processes.
• Graphite Bio presented an overview of the Phase I/II CEDAR Trial of lead asset, GPH101, at the 63rd American Association of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in December. The company expects to treat the first patient in 1H 2022, and have initial proof of concept data by the end of the year.
• Preclinical indications include Gaucher Disease and X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome.
13. AltruBio
Launched: April 2021
Location: Redwood City, CA
Notable:
• AltruBio came out of the gate in April 2021 with $63 million in Series A financing following a name change. The company was previously known as AbGenomics Holding. Along with this new name, AltruBio shifted its focus from oncology to immunology.
• The company’s bread and butter is the gene PSGL-1. Specifically, AltruBio is looking at the role PSGL-1 plays as an immune checkpoint regulator protein in immunological diseases.
• AltruBio’s lead molecule is neihulizumab, an immune checkpoint agonist antibody targeting PSGL-1/CD162 in four autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.
• AltruBio is led by Judy Chou, Ph.D., who previously headed the global biotech organization at Bayer.
14. Scorpion Therapeutics, Inc.
Launched: October 2020
Location: Boston, MA
Notable:
• Scorpion started out with $108 million in Series A financing, only to close a $162 million Series B three months later.
• The company’s three-pronged approach aims to exquisitely target tumor tissue across all metastatic sites and develop therapeutic candidates against non-enzymatic targets thought to be “undruggable”, as well as internally discovered protein targets.
• In August 2021, Dr. Axel Hoos, M.D., Ph.D. was named chief executive officer after serving as senior vice president, R&D, governance chairman and therapeutic area head for oncology at GlaxoSmithKline. “Scorpion’s unique capabilities in medicinal and computational chemistry, combined with chemical proteomics, enable rapid high-quality drug discovery and have led to a robust preclinical pipeline,” Hoos said in a statement.
15. Visus Therapeutics
Launched: March 2021
Location: Seattle, WA
Notable:
• In the first quarter of 2021, Johnson & Johnson Innovation participated in a $36 million Series A financing round. The company picked up another $20 million in August.
• Visus recently announced that its Phase II study of three novel topical ophthalmic formulations being developed to treat presbyopia hit the primary endpoint.
• Visus struck a worldwide licensing deal with Cella Therapeutics to develop therapies for glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
16. Capsida Biotherapeutics Inc.
Launched: April 2021
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Notable:
• Capsida is the kind of company that makes you want to root for it. The next-generation gene therapy company aims to use its novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) platform to treat diseases with high unmet need such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Friedreich’s ataxia (FA). Its technology allows it to deliver gene therapy non-invasively through IV administration.
• Capsida launched in April with $50 million and already held a research alliance with AbbVie. Capsida also has a strategic partnership with CRISPR Therapeutics.
• In July 2021, unveiled a new 15,000 square-foot gene therapy manufacturing facility in Thousand Oaks, CA.
• In December 2021, Capsida announced industry veteran Peter Anastasiou as the new CEO.
17. Xilis, Inc.
Launched: July 2021
Location: Durham, NC
Notable:
• Xilis launched with $70 million Series A financing.
• Xilis’ technology provides a functional model of patients’ individual tumors that can be directly tested for drug response, informing decisions for oncologists and drug development for pharmaceutical companies.
• The company was founded in 2019 on the combined accomplishments of co-founders Dr. Xiling Shen, Ph.D., Dr. David Hsu, MD, Ph.D. and Dr. Hans Clevers, MD, Ph.D. - an engineer, a physician and a biologist.
• Xilis’ initial focus is on colorectal and breast cancers.
• The company’s proprietary MicroOrganoSphereTM (MOS) technology retains unique patient tissue structure, genetic alterations, gene expression, immune microenvironment and histopathology.
18. Interline Therapeutics
Launched: May 2021
Location: South San Francisco, CA
Notable:
• Interline broke onto the scene in the middle of May 2021 with $92 million in launch financing co-led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners.
• With a discovery platform based on genomics, communities and modulators, Interline aims to solve dysfunctional protein communities in the service of treating myriad diseases.
• Interline has leadership coming from industry veterans, among others, from Genentech, Amgen and Denali Therapeutics.
19. Orna Therapeutics
Launched: February 2021
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• Nestled in the heart of Genetown, Orna debuted in February 2021 $100 million strong.
• Orna’s journey began as an academic query at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): “…can one make circular RNA, and if one could, could one make it express?” said Orna CEO Thomas Barnes, Ph.D. in a previous interview with BioSpace.
• Built on research from Prof. Daniel Anderson’s lab at MIT, oRNATM technology is synthetic circular RNA that lack caps and tails and are always full-length. This structure enables them to potentially overcome production, delivery and performance challenges associated with RNA.
20. Metagenomi
Launched: November 2020
Location: Emeryville, CA
Notable:
• Created by UC Berkeley scientists in 2018 and launched with $65 million in Series A funds and Bayer’s backing, Metagenomi is building a proprietary suite of CRISPR-based gene editing systems.
• Metagenomi’s scientific advisory board includes leaders of Moderna and Juno Therapeutics.
• Metagenomi’s bold mission is to advance curative therapies for cancers and genetic diseases.
• In November 2021, Metagenomi became a part of Moderna’s foray into gene editing as the two companies struck a strategic R&D deal to develop new in vivo therapies for serious genetic diseases.
21. Seed Health
Launched: April 2021
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Notable:
• The California-based probiotics company was afloat long before scoring $40 million in Series A funds in April.
• In September 2020, the FDA granted Seed an IND to investigate its flagship 24-strain, broad-spectrum probiotic product, DS-01™, on the gut microbiota of patients with IBS in a Phase II trial. The probiotic includes 24 genetically distinct microorganisms from 12 different species.
• Seed is developing precision probiotics for use in the gastrointestinal, dermatological, oral, pediatric and nutritional health spaces.
• Ara Katz, founder of Seed Health, wrote A Kids Book About Your Microbiome in order to help others as a new way to see their body.
22. Abata Therapeutics
Launched: June 2021
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• Cambridge-headquartered Abata came out of the gate, with $95 million in Series A funds and a strategic partnership with ElevateBio.
• Abata has the backing of Third Rock Ventures and Samantha Singer (of Biogen and Broad Institute) as CEO.
• Abata is aiming its Treg therapeutics at heavyweight autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.
• “At Abata, we’re harnessing Tregs as targeted therapies to alter the course of serious autoimmune disease and succeed where others have failed,” Singer said in a statement.
23. Walking Fish Therapeutics
Launched: September 2021
Location: South San Francisco, CA
Notable:
• Another new player in the burgeoning field of protein therapeutics, Walking Fish launched in September 2021 with $50 million in Series A financing.
• Walking Fish believes in B cells; specifically, their ability to activate the immune system in the treatment of cancer, and their potential to serve as in vivo protein factories that generate replacement proteins.
• The company hopes to share commonalities with the Axolotl, colloquially known as a Walking Fish, which is known for its remarkable regenerative capacity.
• Five Prime Therapeutics founder Dr. Rusty Williams and previous cardiologist practitioner heads the company as CEO.
24. Enveda Biosciences
Launched: June 2021
Location: Boulder, CO
Notable:
• Representing the emerging Colorado life sciences hub, Enveda is leveraging a powerful triad of machine learning, computational metabolomics and knowledge graphs to develop nature-based therapeutics.
• Enveda raised $51M in a Series A round led by Lux Capital.
• The company recently tapped August Allen, formerly of Recursion Pharmaceuticals, as chief platform officer. “The CPO role is still relatively rare in biotech and pharma, but it makes perfect sense for our company, our technology, and this moment in time as we unleash the full potential of our drug discovery engine,” said Enveda Founder and CEO Viswa Colluru in a statement.
25. Evommune, Inc.
Launched: September 2021
Location: Los Altos, CA
Notable:
• Evommune closed an $83 million Series A round in September 2021.
• Leveraging a novel screen platform to identify differentiated molecules, Evommune uses the skin as the lens to uncover new approaches in immunology, with a focus on chronic inflammation.
• The company has a pact with Eli Lilly’s Dermira to develop and commercialize three inflammatory disease programs.
• Evommune’s portfolio includes a PKC-theta inhibitor acquired through another collaboration with Japan’s Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners.
26. Immunai
Launched: February 2021
Location: New York, NY
Notable:
• Immunai has been on a rapid ascension plan since debuting in February with $60 million in Series A funds. The company added another $215 million in October 2021 in its quest to understand the immune system at a deep level of granularity.
• Immunai was formed by MIT colleagues Noam Solomon and Luis Voloch, who are now CEO and CTO respectively.
• A collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine published in Nature Medicine indicated that chimeric antibody receptor – natural killer T (CAR-NKT) cells – could be scaled and safely used to treat cancer patients.
• Currently, Immunai has over 30 partnerships that have helped to build a database of tens of millions of immune cells.
27. Neomorph, Inc.
Launched: December 2020
Location: San Diego, CA
Notable:
• Christmas 2020 was very merry indeed for Neomorph, which raised $109 million in Series A funds.
• Neomorph is developing new medicines against ‘undruggable targets’ through targeted protein degradation.
• Neomorph enjoys a close alliance with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where three of its scientific co-founders are affiliated.
• The company appointed co-founder Philip Chamberlain as CEO in November 2021.
• “Molecular glue drugs can convey new structures and new functions to proteins within a cell, and that is something that we are aiming to achieve,” Chamberlain told BioSpace in a previous interview.
28. Ensoma
Launched: February 2021
Location: Boston, MA
Notable:
• Ensoma debuted in February 2021 with $70 million in Series A dollars and a collaboration with Takeda already in place.
• The company is developing engineered gene therapy vectors to treat rare monogenic illnesses.
• Ensoma’s Engenious platform precisely engineers any or all hematopoietic and immune cells with a one-time, off-the-shelf in vivo treatment.
• In October 2021, Ensoma chose former BlueRock Therapeutics CEO Emile Nuwaysir, Ph.D. to lead the charge.
29. Strand Therapeutics
Launched: June 2021
Location: Cambridge, MA
Notable:
• Strand Therapeutics scored $52 million in oversubscribed Series A funding to advance programmable, long-acting mRNA therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy and other diseases.
• Co-founder and CEO Jake Becraft celebrated the launch by being named an MIT Technology Review 2021 Innovator Under 35.
• Becraft was part of an MIT team that led the development of the world’s first synthetic biology programming language for mRNA.
• Strand was awarded a Phase I NIH SBIR Contract worth approximately $400,000 to develop an mRNA-based CAR-T immunotherapy for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
30. Deepcell
Launched: December 2020
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Notable:
• Deepcell launched at the end of 2020 with $20 million in Series A financing to mine its AI-powered imaging and microfluidics platform which identifies viable cells that can be used in translational research, diagnostic testing and therapeutics.
• The company was spun out of Stanford University in 2017.
• Deepcell boasts a cell morphology atlas of more than one billion cell images.
• Partnerships are a big focus for Deepcell. The company is collaborating with Stanford on Tabula Sapiens, a unique endeavor that plans to develop a “benchmark human cell atlas” using two million cells collected from the organs of eight people. In October 2021, Deepcell also partnered with the University of Zurich.
