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Finance Watch: AltruBio, Pheon Raise Venture Capital Mega-Rounds

Immunology, ADC Start-Ups Garner Big Bucks

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Private Company Edition: AltruBio raised up to $225m and Pheon garnered $120m in series B financings, while Lycia brought in $106.6m in series C cash. Also, Sands Capital closed its third life science fund, totaling $555m, and NewVale Capital debuted with $167m for life science services.

Finance Watch Private Company
• Source: Shutterstock

AltruBio Inc. took a big step up from its $63m series A venture capital round in 2021 when it announced a series B round totaling up to $225m on 21 May, which will fund ongoing and planned Phase IIa and IIb clinical trials of its immune checkpoint enhancer ALTB-268 in ulcerative colitis. The financing is second only to Uniquity Bio’s recent launch with $300m in initial funding in terms of recent VC mega-rounds of $100m or more.

Financings In Depth

For detailed coverage of the Uniquity and Ajax financings, see these Scrip articles:

With Blackstone’s $300m, Uniquity Will Take On Tezspire In Respiratory Disease

Pheon Therapeutics Ltd also revealed a mega-round on 21 May, announcing that it completed a $120m series B round to fund development of its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline for hard-to-treat cancers. Nearly a week earlier, on 13 May, Lycia Therapeutics, Inc. revealed a $106

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