GV, a corporate venture capital subsidiary of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, led a $135m series D round for US-based precision gene therapy developer Encoded Therapeutics yesterday.
The oversubscribed round also featured Illumina Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund II, which invested on behalf of biotechnology producer Illumina and telecommunications and internet group SoftBank respectively.
Matrix Capital Management, Arch Venture Partners, RTW Investments, Boxer Capital, Nolan Capital, HBM Genomics, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital, Farallon Capital Management and undisclosed additional investors filled out the round.
Founded in 2014, Encoded Therapeutics has created a drug discovery platform that combines biological and computational approaches to identify sequences of DNA called regulatory elements which control the expression of genes.
The company then uses the large-scale datasets to formulate treatments intended to precisely control gene expression, offering the ability to target genetic disorders hitherto deemed untreatable.
Encoded’s lead asset, ETX101, is aimed at Dravet syndrome, a rare condition with symptoms including prolonged and frequent seizures, movement and balance issues, sleeping difficulties and chronic infections, as well as behavioural and developmental delays.
ETX101 has been granted orphan disease and rare paediatric disease designation by the US Food and Drug Administration, giving Encoded access to government incentives aimed at supporting the development of drugs for underserved needs.
The series D proceeds will fund clinical trials and allow the company to advance a pipeline of other potential treatments for paediatric central nervous system disorders. David Schenkein, general partner and co-leader of GV’s life sciences team, will take an observer role at its board of directors.
Encoded raised $104m in a June 2019 series C round backed by Illumina Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Venrock, Arch Venture Partners, Matrix Capital Management, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Menlo Ventures, RTW Investments and Boxer Capital completed the series C participants
Encoded was incubated within Illumina Accelerator, and Illumina Ventures, Matrix Capital and Altitude Life Sciences were all existing shareholders as of the series C round. It has not revealed details of its earlier financing but Venrock and Arch Venture Partners both initially invested at seed stage.
