Surrozen Secures $50 Million Series B Financing to Advance Novel Regenerative Medicine Antibodies Targeting Wnt Pathway

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on March 15, U.S. local time, Surrozen, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Francisco, California, completed a $50 million Series B financing round. The funds will be used to advance Surrozen’s antibody development program for liver diseases and expand its therapeutic platform to other disease areas beyond the liver that are regulated by secreted Wnt proteins.

It is reported that this round of financing was jointly participated in by Horizons Ventures, Hartford HealthCare Endowment, NS Investment, and Column Group. In addition, Surrozen has expanded its board of directors and appointed Anna Berkenblit, M.D., as a director. Dr. Berkenblit currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Immunogen, a biotechnology company developing antibody-based cancer therapies, and brings extensive experience in clinical development. She previously served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at H3 Biomedicine, and as Vice President of Oncology and Head of Clinical Research at AVEO Pharmaceuticals.

Surrozen is a biotechnology company developing novel regenerative medicine antibodies, focusing on the specific control of Wnt protein signaling pathways to unlock the body’s regenerative potential. The company was co-founded by Stanford University Professor of Biology K. Christopher Garcia, Cancer Institute Professor Roel Nusse, Dr. Claudia Janda, Calvin Kuo, Chief Investigator at the Maxima Center for Children’s Oncology, and Hans Clevers, Center Director. Currently, Surrozen has developed two proprietary antibodies that are mimetics of the secreted proteins Wnt and R-spondin, designed to stimulate cell- and organ-specific tissue regeneration.

Schematic Diagram of Wnt Proteins

In 1982, Dr. Roel Nusse, co-founder of Surrozen, and Dr. Harold Varmus jointly discovered the first Wnt secreted protein. Following collaborative research, they determined that Wnt protein signaling serves as a core mechanism in the development of multicellular organisms. The secreted protein Wnt plays a critical role in cellular maintenance, tissue regeneration, and other essential developmental processes, aiding the body in self-repair following injury or disease. Aberrations in the Wnt signaling pathway can lead to various human diseases, including cancer.

Chris Garcia, CEO of Surrozen, stated, “The therapeutic potential of Wnt signaling is evident. However, for decades, the development of Wnt-targeted therapies has faced insurmountable technical hurdles, hindering related drug development efforts.” Nevertheless, Surrozen is developing a platform based on “alternative” Wnt molecules to selectively activate Wnt signaling pathways for the treatment of relevant diseases, thereby overcoming the obstacles that have impeded the development of Wnt-related drugs within the industry. Chris Garcia has led the development of this project.

Surrozen was founded in 2016 and completed a $33 million Series A financing round led by Column Group on February 15, 2017.

Horizons Ventures is a venture capital firm founded by Li Ka-shing in 2006, primarily investing in startups focused on technology or disruptive innovations. Key executives at Horizons Ventures include Zhou Kaixuan and Zhang Peiwei. As of 2016, the firm had invested in 73 companies, with its portfolio spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

NS Investment, established in 2016 and headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is a private equity firm specializing in the biotechnology sector. To date, the firm has completed seven investments.

Column Group (TCG), founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, USA, is a venture capital firm primarily investing in companies developing biotechnology. Currently, TCG manages $1.5 billion in assets, has completed 57 investments, and has invested in more than 25 companies, four of which are publicly listed.

(Compiled by Wang Chan)