Capstan Therapeutics Inc. and Engrail Therapeutics are among the latest companies to raise venture capital mega-rounds of $100m or more as the deluge of large private financings early in 2024 coincides with a somewhat optimistic market for initial public offerings – one of two off-ramps for VC investors.
Finance Watch: Another Bevy Of VC Mega-Rounds, Including $175m For Capstan
Aegis, Primmune Reveal Gates Investment, Government Funds
Private Company Edition: Capstan and Engrail raised $175m and $157m, respectively, in series B venture capital rounds in addition to Madrigal’s $400m-plus launch and Clasp’s $150m series A.

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CEO Kris Elverum told Scrip about the start-up’s platform for editing RNA to correct genetic variants that cause harm and to reproduce healthy variants as a means of treating disease.
The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.
Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.
Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.
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Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.
Stock prices plummeted, particularly for vaccine makers and cell and gene therapy developers, after the US FDA’s top biologics overseer resigned over vaccine misinformation concerns.
Seeking cell therapy approaches to cure type 1 diabetes, Vertex abandons a candidate encapsulated to avoid immune system detection but hopes to file another candidate for approval in 2026.