RAPT Therapeutics Completes $37 Million Series C+ Financing to Advance Oral Small Molecule Immunomodulatory Drug Pipeline

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that biopharmaceutical company RAPT Therapeutics has completed a $37 million Series C+ financing round. T. Rowe Price Associates provided financial advisory services for this round. Investors included existing backers such as Column Group (investing through its Ponoi Capital fund), GV, Kleiner Perkins, Topspin Partners, and Celgene Corporation.

It is reported that RAPT Therapeutics previously completed a $29 million Series A financing in August 2015, a $50 million Series B financing in April 2016, and a $60 million Series C financing in December 2017.

RAPT Therapeutics (formerly FLX Bio) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company founded in April 2015, focused on the research, development, and commercialization of oral small-molecule immunomodulatory drugs for the treatment of patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. Leveraging its proprietary R&D technologies, the company develops highly selective small-molecule drugs designed to modulate key immune responses in these diseases. Built upon expertise in immunology and chemistry, as well as computational biology techniques, RAPT Therapeutics’ independently developed drug discovery and development platform enables rapid identification of therapeutic targets and screening of drug candidates.

Currently, RAPT Therapeutics has successfully identified two CCR4-targeting drug candidates: FLX475, an oncology candidate currently in clinical development, and RPT193, an inflammation candidate expected to enter clinical trials in the second half of 2019. The company is also developing GCN2 and HPK1 as anticancer agents.

“Brian Wong, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of RAPT Therapeutics, said, ‘We will continue to advance the development of our oral small-molecule therapies. The FLX475 program, targeting multiple cancers, is expected to deliver proof-of-concept results in the first half of 2020, while the RPT193 program for atopic dermatitis is anticipated to report results by mid-2020. We aim to leverage our immunology-based drug discovery and development platform to bring safe and effective novel therapies to patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases.’”

T. Rowe Price, founded by Thomas Rowe Price Jr. in 1937 and headquartered in Maryland, USA, is an investment management firm. The company managed over $453 billion in assets (as of September 30, 2011), primarily providing financial support to technology startups. T. Rowe Price offers comprehensive investment services to individuals, financial intermediaries, and corporations, with investment vehicles including bonds, equities, and private equity.

Column Group, founded in 2006 and headquartered in California, USA, is a leading venture capital and private equity investment firm. The company is dedicated to providing funding and operational support to drug development companies that possess unique scientific platforms and offer a variety of breakthrough therapies, primarily participating in venture capital investments at the seed, early, and late stages of enterprise development.

GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, is a venture capital firm under Alphabet, founded in 2009 and headquartered in California, USA. The company has invested in more than 300 innovative enterprises, with investment areas covering life sciences, healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, transportation, cybersecurity, and agriculture. GV connects startups with Google, providing them with high-quality talent resources and technology.

Kleiner Perkins was founded in 1972 and is a venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Over the past 50 years, the firm has maintained a focused commitment to the technology and life sciences sectors, participating in early-stage investments in many industry-leading companies, including Amazon, AOL, Compaq, Electronic Arts, Google, Intuit, Macromedia, Netscape, Segway, Genentech, and Sun Microsystems.

Kleiner Perkins manages 20 venture capital funds and four growth equity funds, with cumulative investments of approximately $10 billion.

Topspin, which evolved from the Long Island Venture Fund established in 1995, is a venture capital and private equity firm. A subsidiary of the renowned hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, the company primarily invests in the lower-to-mid market segment, targeting companies with EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) ranging from $2 million to $10 million.

Celgene, founded in 1986, is a global integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative therapies for cancer, immune-inflammatory disorders, and related diseases. The company is currently investigating drugs for the treatment of currently incurable hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, such as multiple myeloma (MM), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and melanoma.

(Compiled by Tang Lulu)