Parkwalk Advisors has returned to back a $46m round for PhoreMost, weeks after the latter’s spinout Neophore attracted $21m in a series B.
PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical spinout of University of Cambridge, closed a £33m ($46m) series B round featuring Parkwalk Advisors, the fund management subsidiary of commercialisation firm IP Group.
BGF led the round, which also attracted artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company XtalPi and Astellas Venture Management, the investment arm of pharmaceutical company Astellas.
Trend Investment Group, O2H Ventures, Morningside Venutres and outgoing PhoreMost chairman Jonathan Milner also participated in the round.
Founded in 2014, PhoreMost has created a platform called Siteseeker that identifies drug targets and how to develop therapeutics aimed at these.
The money will allow PhoreMost’s collaboration with drug discovery company Sentinel Oncology into the clinic. The partnership is initially focused on glioma, a type of tumour affecting the brain or central nervous system.
PhoreMost will also advance a range of internal assets in oncology and ageing. Catherine Beech has been appointed as chairwoman of PhoreMost in conjunction with the round, taking over from Milner who will remain as a non-executive director.
Tim Rea, an investor at BGF, Alan Jiang, chief strategy officer of XtalPi, and Neil Pegg of Morningside Ventures will join the board of directors.
Alastair Kilgour, chief investment officer of Parkwalk Advisors, said: “PhoreMost’s technology has the potential to significantly increase the diversity of novel therapeutics for cancer and other unmet diseases, where treatment options are currently severely limited, and therefore improve the lives of millions suffering with untreated conditions
“Since our original investment we have been impressed by the whole PhoreMost team, who have gone from strength to strength. It made perfect sense for us to follow on that original investment and help them accelerate, grow, and continue to meet this important challenge.”
PhoreMost secured $15m in 2018 in a series A round co-led by tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisors, Amadeus Capital Partners, Morningside and Milner.
PhoreMost has generated its own spinout, NeoPhore, which was set up in 2017 to exploit University of Turin research. It collected $21m in a series B round also featuring Astellas Venture Management earlier this month.
Learn more about Parkwalk’s investment philosophy in our interview with chief executive Moray Wright.