Finance Watch: Perlmutter’s Eikon Raises $106m, In-Licenses Pipeline Programs

Start-Up Has Raised Nearly $775m To Date

Private Company Edition: Former Merck R&D head Roger Perlmutter and his new team have accessed drug candidates in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases from three companies, along with new funding. Also, Carmot raised $150m in series E equity and BenchSci brought in $70m.

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Eikon Therapeutics, Inc. announced the first venture capital mega-round of $100m or more for June, revealing that it raised $106m in the first tranche of a series C funding round on 1 June. The financing news was overshadowed, however, by the company’s disclosure that it in-licensed several preclinical and clinical-stage drug candidates from three different companies, providing some insight into Eikon’s therapeutic focus after three and a half years of mystery despite its significant fundraising to date.

Hayward, CA-based Eikon was founded in late 2019 with plans to use super-resolution microscopy to elucidate the behavior of proteins in live cells and inform drug discovery and development. The company came out of stealth mode in May 2021 when it named retired Merck & Co., Inc. head of research and development Roger Perlmutter as its CEO and said the company raised a $148m series A round

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