Osage University Partners has contributed to an oversubscribed series C round for Cyteir, which was led by RA Capital.

Cyteir Therapeutics, a US-based synthetic lethal cancer drug spinout of Jackson Laboratory, completed an $80m series C round yesterday backed by spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners (OUP).
RA Capital Management led the oversubscribed round, which additionally featured pharmaceutical firm Novo, Janus Henderson Investors, Acuta Capital Partners, Ally Bridge Group, Avidity Partners, Ample Plus Fund and CaaS Capital Management.
Venrock, Lightstone Ventures, Droia Ventures and an undisclosed US-based healthcare-focused fund filled out the round.
Founded in 2012, Cyteir Therapeutics is working on treatments that exploit DNA damage response biology to target key vulnerabilities in cancer cells.
The capital has been allocated to advancing lead asset CYT-0851 into phase 2 monotherapy trials in patients with haematologic cancers and solid tumours. It will also allow Cyteir to enter the programme into trials with other therapies, and to expand its preclinical pipeline.
OUP backed a two-tranche series B round that closed at $75.2m in late 2019 and was led by Novo. The round also included pharmaceutical firm Celgene, Droia, Lightstone and Venrock.
Celgene had contributed to a $5.8m series A round closed in 2016, investing alongside private investors.
 

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.