Cowen Healthcare Investments has led a funding round for Scipher Medicine, co-founded by Harvard Medical School colleagues Joseph Loscalzo and Albert-László Barabási.
Scipher Medicine, a US-based precision immunology company, has raised $110m in a funding round led by Cowen Healthcare Investments.
Hitachi Ventures and Optum Ventures, respective investment arms of conglomerate Hitachi and healthcare company Optum, also took part in the round, which was filled out by Neuberger Berman, Laurion Capital, Monashee Investment Management, Northpond Ventures, aMoon, Khosla Ventures, Echo Innovation Alliance and Alumni Ventures.
Founded in 2014, Scipher Medicine has developed a platform that uncovers a patient’s unique molecular disease signature and identifies the most effective treatment for their autoimmune condition using blood tests.
The molecular and clinical data generated through the tests is then also used to drive the discovery and development of more effective therapeutics through partnerships with pharmaceutical firms.
Scipher Medicine was co-founded by Joseph Loscalzo, head of the Department of Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard University’s Medical School, and Albert-László Barabási, the Robert Gray Dodge professor of network science at Northeastern University. Barabási also holds an appointment at Harvard Medical School.
Tim Anderson, partner and head of research at Cowen Healthcare Investments, will join Scipher’s board of directors.
Alif Saleh, chief executive of Scipher Medicine, noted: “We are thrilled to partner with world-class investors who support our mission to solve one of the largest problems in healthcare today harming individual patients as well as our health care system at large.
“It is deeply rewarding to experience more and more patients benefiting from our solutions every day.”
The company has now raised $227m in funding altogether, it confirmed. Khosla Ventures provided an undisclosed amount in September 2018 that brought Scipher’s funding to $10m.
Northpond Ventures led a series B round of undisclosed size in December 2019, when Alumni Ventures, Tachyon Ventures, Khosla and Granpool Innovative Investments also participated. Granpool was identified as an existing shareholder at the time.
Optum Ventures subsequently supplied an unspecified sum in February 2020, before Scipher Medicine procured $82m in a series C round in March 2021 co-led by Northpond Ventures and aMoon, with commitments from Echo Health Ventures and existing investors, Khosla Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
