Uniseed has returned for the latest round raised by Melbourne spinout ENA Respiratory, which is working on a nasal spray to prevent covid-19.
ENA Respiratory, an Australia-based developer of a nasal spray to prevent respiratory viral infections that emerged out of University of Melbourne, pocketed A$32m ($24.6m) from investors including multi-university venture fund Uniseed yesterday.
Life sciences venture capital firm Brandon Capital Partners and philanthropic organisation Minderoo Foundation co-led the milestone-based financing round.
ENA Respiratory is working on nasal sprays that prevent respiratory viral infections such as the common cold, influenza and covid-19. The company’s lead asset, INNA-051, is an innate immune agonist that is not virus-specific and has shown promising results in preclinical studies.
The funding will allow ENA Respiratory to advance INNA-051 to phase 1 trials to demonstrate efficacy against covid-19. Ruth Tal-Singer, president and chief scientific officer of nonprofit organisation COPD Foundation, has joined the board of directors.
The spinout collected $8.4m in a round led by the Australian government-backed vehicle Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, with participation from Uniseed in October 2020. The same two investors had supplied $4.7m in funding in 2017.
To learn more about Uniseed’s investment philosophy, you can download our interview with chief executive Peter Devine, for free here.
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast.
