Vedanta Biosciences Secures $16.6M in Series C2 Financing to Expand Clinical Pipeline

On September 23, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that biotechnology company Vedanta Biosciences had completed a $16.6 million Series C2 financing round. Investors in this round included QUAD Investment Management, SV Investment Corp, Shinhan Investment-Private Equity, Partners Investment, FC Capital, and SymBiosis LLC.

Vedanta Biosciences will use the proceeds from this financing round to further expand its clinical pipeline: the recently initiated Phase 1b/2 study of VE416, a therapeutic for food allergies; the Phase 1b/2 study of VE800 in combination with OPDIVO® (nivolumab) for advanced or metastatic cancer; and the ongoing Phase 2 study of VE303 for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI).

Vedanta Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in 2010 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The company was established by PureTech Health, with Dr. Bernat Olle serving as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Vedanta Biosciences is developing novel therapies for immune-mediated diseases.

The company’s scientific co-founders are a group of leading experts in the fields of immunology and microbiology, including Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov (Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University), Dr. Brett Finlay (Professor at the University of British Columbia), Dr. Kenya Honda (Professor at Keio University School of Medicine), Dr. Dan Littman (Professor of Molecular Immunology at New York University), Dr. Alexander Rudensky (Tri-Institutional Professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute), and Dr. Jeremiah Faith (Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai). Among them, Dr. Kenya Honda is the inventor of Vedanta Biosciences’ lead product candidate.

Vedanta Biosciences is a leader in the microbiome field, possessing the expertise and capabilities to discover, develop, and manufacture live biotherapeutic products. These capabilities include an extensive collection of human microbiome-related strains, a suite of proprietary assays for selecting pharmacologically potent strains, a substantial body of proprietary data derived from human intervention studies, and cGMP-compliant manufacturing facilities for producing rationally defined bacterial consortia in powder form. The company’s scientific co-founders collaboratively discovered human commensal bacteria capable of eliciting a range of immune responses, including the induction of regulatory T cells, CD8+ T cells, and Th17 cells.

QUAD Investment Management is an equity investment firm. QUAD aims to invest through a deep understanding of cyclical and long-term industry trends, corporate strategies, management quality, and company performance drivers. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, QUAD has a branch office in Hong Kong.

SV Investment (KOSDAQ: 289080) is a South Korean venture capital firm that provides financial and strategic advisory services to companies at critical development stages through its affiliate, SV Partners, along with offering advisory services for IPOs, M&A, investor relations (IR), and operations.

Shinhan Investment is the only financial holding company in South Korea with a global credit rating of A1, with investments spanning multiple industries including biotechnology, consumer finance, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, and tourism.

Partners Investment, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is a venture capital firm that has completed 12 investments to date.

FC Capital is a technology-driven financial company dedicated to facilitating trade between businesses. The company offers solution-oriented commercial loans, bespoke and independent investment banking services, and a suite of innovative, technology-driven products, all aimed at fostering the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia and around the world.

Symbiosis, headquartered in Washington State, USA, is a community of healthcare providers. The community includes numerous companies related to the medical industry.

(Compiled by Tian Shuhang)