Atreca, a US-based immune-focused medicine developer based on research at Stanford University, completed an oversubscribed $125m series C round today led by an undisclosed existing investor described as a healthcare-focused fund.
The round included Tavistock Group’s Boxer Capital unit, Wellington Management Company, Cormorant Asset Management, Aisling Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management.
Atreca is developing drugs based on the responsiveness of the human body’s immune system. Its lead program is focused on cancer and its lead candidate, ATRC-101, is being developed to target breast, lung and colon tumours.
The company was co-founded by Lawrence Steinman, the George Zimmermann professor of neurology and neurological sciences and paediatrics in Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
John Orwin, Atreca’s president and chief executive, said: “This funding enables us to broaden and accelerate our discovery and pipeline generation efforts and to move our first candidate into clinical development.
“This first candidate, generated by our unique discovery engine and via our proprietary Immune Repertoire Capture technology, represents a novel and potentially fundamental new class of oncology immunotherapeutics.
The round increased Atreca’s overall funding to $226m according to press releases and regulatory filings, the company having received $6m from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012.
Pharmaceutical firm GlaxosSmithKline and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined Mission Bay Capital for Atreca’s $56m series A round in 2015, which was led by an unnamed healthcare-focused fund.
Wellington Management Company co-led a $35m series B round for the company with an undisclosed healthcare-focused fund in August 2017, investing alongside Cormorant Asset Management and undisclosed new and existing backers.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.