Monte Rosa scales $95m series C

Monte Rosa Therapeutics, a US-based precision medicine developer exploiting Institute of Cancer Research work, has secured $95m in a series C round led by Avoro Capital Advisors.
GV, a corporate venturing unit for internet technology group Alphabet, and investment and financial services group Fidelity, also took part in the round, as did RTW Investments, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Associates.
The new investors were joined by existing backers including Versant Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), HBM Healthcare Investments, Aisling Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Amzak Health, Sixty Degree Capital, Casdin Capital and Cambridge Asset Management.
Monte Rosa’s drug discovery platform uses small molecule degraders, which target and destroy disease-causing proteins in the human body. Its research is aimed at addressing difficult-to-treat diseases such as cancer.
The series C funding will be used to advance the company’s lead product candidate into the clinical trial stage, accelerate its drug pipeline and strengthen its development capabilities.
Monte Rosa was incubated by venture capital firm Versant Ventures’ discovery engine, Ridgeline, and launched in partnership with University of London’s Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK.
It raised $96m in a September 2020 series B round led by Aisling Capital and backed by GV, Versant Ventures, NEA, HBM Healthcare Investments, Cormorant Asset Management, Amzak Health, Casdin Capital, Sixty Degree Capital and Cambridge Asset Management.
Versant Ventures and NEA had already provided $32.5m of series A funding for Monte Rosa in May 2020 that was disclosed when it emerged from stealth.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.