Healthcare Private Placement and M&A Transactions Review Week Ending March 12 2023

Bicara Therapeutics: The company raised $108 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Red Tree Venture Capital and RA Capital Management on March 6, 2023, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $117 million. Eight Roads, Acorn Bioventures, Omega Funds, The Invus Group, Premji Invest (US), Vedanta Capital, F-Prime Capital, Bioqube Ventures, Janus Henderson Investors, Piper Sandler, Catalytic Impact Foundation, and ImpactAssets also participated in the round. The company is an operator of a clinical-stage biotechnology business intended to develop dual-action biologics.

Rapport Therapeutics: The company raised $100 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Third Rock Ventures on March 7, 2023, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $49.8 million. Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and ARCH Venture Partners also participated in the round. The company is an operator of a biotechnology business intended to transform the treatment of neurological disorders through precision medicine.

Ring Therapeutics: The company raised $86.5 million of Series C venture funding Led by Alexandria Venture Investments with participation from CJ Investment, and Kyowa Kirin on March 9, 2023. The Invus Group, Flagship Pioneering, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and Partners Investment also participated in the round. The company is a developer of medical gene therapeutics intended to be incorporated through a novel viral vector platform.

LENZ Therapeutics: The company raised $83.5 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Sectoral Asset Management on March 7, 2023. Alpha Wave Global, Versant Ventures, RA Capital Management, RTW Investments, Point72 Asset Management and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The company is an operator of a biopharmaceutical business intended to aid patients in the treatment of presbyopia.

Volastra: The company raised $60 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Eli Lilly, Polaris Partners and ARCH Venture Partners on March 7, 2023, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $63 million. The company is an operator of a drug discovery and therapeutics business intended to treat and prevent the formation of metastatic cancer through the targetable vulnerability of chromosomal instability (CIN).

Allorion Therapeutics: The company raised $50 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by Qiming Venture Partners and INCE Capital Partners on March 10, 2023. 3Sbio, Elikon Venture, TF Capital, Octagon Capital Advisors and LongRiver Investments also participated in the round. The company is a developer of small-molecule drugs designed to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Ampersand Biomedicines: The company raised $50 million of venture funding from Flagship Pioneering on March 7, 2023. The company is a developer of medicines and body therapeutics designed to act at the site of disease.

PathologyWatch: The company raised $22.3 million of venture funding from undisclosed investors on March 6, 2023. The company is a developer of a digital pathology platform designed to detect and characterize cancers from biopsy samples.

Essenvia: The company raised $5.5 million of venture funding from undisclosed investors on March 7, 2023. The company is a developer of an online research data platform built to streamline medical device pre- and post-launch regulatory workflow.

F-Star Therapeutics / invoX Pharma: The company was acquired by invoX Pharma, a subsidiary of Sino Biopharmaceutica, for $161 million on March 8, 2023. F-star Therapeutics Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing tetravalent bispecific antibodies for cancer therapy.

Auxocell Laboratories / BioStem Technologies: The company reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by BioStem Technologies for an undisclosed amount on March 7, 2023. The company is a manufacturer of solid tissue processing equipment based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Concert Pharmaceuticals / Sun Pharmaceutical Industries: The company was acquired by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries for an undisclosed amount on March 6, 2023. Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Sesen Bio / Carisma Therapeutics: The company was acquired by Carisma Therapeutics through a reverse merger, resulting in the combined entity trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol CARM on March 7, 2023. Sesen Bio Inc is a late-stage clinical company advancing targeted fusion protein therapeutics for the treatment of patients with cancer.

TCR2 Therapeutics / Adaptimmune Therapeutics: The company reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Adaptimmune Therapeutics for an undisclosed amount on March 6, 2023. TCR2 Therapeutics Inc is a clinical-stage cell therapy company.