Pfizer Ventures, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has co-led a $25m series A round for System1, a US-based startup developing treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
CRV co-led the round, which included Alexandria Venture Investments, part of life sciences real estate trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Webb Investment Network, Liquid 2 Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Longevity Fund, Riot Ventures, Kinled Holding, Wilmot Ventures and Boom Capital
System1 is utilising phenotypic screening of the stem cell lines of brain disease patients to discover drugs that can treat psychiatric and neurological diseases. Proceeds from the round will fund the development of potential therapies for epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia.
The company was founded by CEO Sean Escola, assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, and Saul Kato, assistant professor of neurology at University of California, San Francisco.
Pfizer Ventures partner Margi McLoughlin is joining System1’s board of directors along with George Zachary of CRV, while Laszlo Kiss, an executive director at Pfizer, and Dylan Morris of CRV will take board observer positions.
McLoughlin said: “As part of Pfizer’s new neuroscience investment strategy, we are funding promising early-stage research companies. We are happy to support entrepreneurs like the System1 team who have created an industrialised system for novel target identification and drug screening.”