US-based biopharmaceutical company Hexagon Bio carried out a $61m funding round featuring telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 on Wednesday, bringing its total funding to over $108m.
The round was led by Nextech Invest and included Casdin Capital, 8VC, The Column Group and Two Sigma Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Hexagon is developing therapies for diseases using compounds from microbial genomes, primarily from fungi, using an interdisciplinary platform that incorporates genomics, data science and synthetic biology.
Proceeds from the round will be used to develop the company’s drug discovery platform and push forward its preclinical pipeline, which will initially be centred on infectious diseases and oncology.
The Column Group led Hexagon’s series A round, which closed in September 2020 with $47m raised. It was filled out by 8VC and Two Sigma Ventures.
Maureen Hillenmeyer, co-founder and chief executive of Hexagon, said: “Microbial genomes are an incredibly rich source of diverse, potent and drug-like compounds that, as a result of millions of years of evolution, provide elegant solutions to human therapeutic targets that have eluded traditional screening approaches.
“To date, the discovery of these small molecules has been limited to a tiny fraction of the earth’s microbes and hampered by a lack of mechanistic understanding of the intended drug targets.
“Hexagon exists to overcome these challenges and unearth new medicines to combat human disease. We are excited to embark on the next phase of growth to discover and develop unique and potent therapeutic compounds for a broad spectrum of intractable diseases.”
