Profit Pulse: Bio

Seismic Therapeutics, launched by the founders of Pandion after its $1.9B exit to Merck in 2021, topped our biotech financing deal flow charts this week with its $121M Series B round supporting its immunology programs.

Turning to M&A, AbbVie announced its agreement to acquire Cerevel Therapeutics for $8.7B. Public markets and funds announced a total of $1.27B in new capital across four deals.

Table of Contents

• Deal of the Week: Seismic Therapeutics

• Weekly Deal Flow Takeaways

  • Private Fundraises

  • M&A

  • Public/Fund Financings

Deal of the Week: Seismic Therapeutics

• Seismic Therapeutics

  • Founded: 2021

  • Team Size: 47

  • Location: Cambridge, MA

  • Indications: Immunology

Solution: Seismic’s Ig sculpting enzymes are designed to reduce or eliminate pathogenic antibodies that cause a range of autoimmune diseases such as myasthenia gravis, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Core Differentiation: The company’s approach is to use machine learning to optimize the therapeutic properties of novel biologics for autoimmune diseases.

Key Details & Quotes:

• The series B was led by Bessemer, with participation from Amgen Ventures and Codon Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Gaingels and GC&H. Existing investors Timothy A. Springer, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, Boxer Capital, GV, Samsara BioCapital, and unnamed management members and founders participated.

• The funding will help push two immunology programs into the clinic, through IND-enabling studies and phase 1 trials:

  • S-1117 (pan‑immunoglobulin G protease sculpting enzymes)

  • S-4321 (dual-cell bidirectional antibodies).

• “The therapeutic potential lies in major autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis & inflammatory bowel disease” - Jo Viney, Ph.D., CEO

Weekly Deal Flow Takeaways

Private Fundraises: Six deals; $282M identified

M&A: Two newly announced deals; $8.7B identified in AbbVie’s acquisition

Public / Funds: Four deals; $1.27B identified

Private Fundraises

Seismic Therapeutic, an immunology biotech, raised $121M with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Amgen Ventures, Codon Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Gaingels, GC&H, Timothy Springer, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, Boxer Capital, GV, and Samsara BioCapital.

Cortex, a developer of an atrial fibrillation treatment, raised $90M with participation from KKR, Hellman & Friedman.

Eligo Bioscience, a gene-editing startup, raised $30M with participation from Sanofi Ventures, Bpifrance, Khosla Ventures, and Seventure Partners.

Graviton, a biotech company applying ROCK2 inhibitors to multiple big-name diseases, raised $35M from Enavate

InpharmD, a drug information startup, raised $6.1M with participation from 645 Ventures, Atlanta Ventures, Y Combinator, Qlarant Capital, and SF ELC.

Kamau Therapeutics, a company with an option to acquire all of Graphite's genome editing assets, emerged from stealth.

M&A

Cerevel Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based drug maker, announced a sale to AbbVie in a deal valued at $8.7B.

Abcam, a British provider of biological reagents, completed its (previously announced) $5.7B all-cash sale to Danaher.

Anthos Therapeutics, a developer of blood thinners formed in a partnership between Blackstone and Novartis four years ago, is seeking a sale.

Public/Fund Financings

PureHealth, a health lab group in Dubai, is targeting $1B in an IPO.

Intuitive Ventures, the VC arm of the surgical tech company ($ISRG), raised $150M for its second fund.

Aimei Health Technology, a small-cap health care SPAC, raised $60M.

TechyBird Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the tech and biotech sectors, raised $60M.

Enjoying the newsletter? Subscribe for future weekly updates: