US-based small molecule drug developer HotSpot Therapeutics completed a $100m series C round on Monday led by Pivotal BioVenture Partners, a life sciences investment vehicle owned by property developer Nan Fung.
The round included pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co’s MRL Ventures Fund and SR One Capital Management, the investment firm spun off by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, as well as B Capital Group, the investment partner of consulting firm Boston Consulting Group.
Caas Capital Management, Revelation Partners, Pavilion Capital, Monashee Investment Management, LSP, Atlas Venture, Sofinnova Partners and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management filled out the round.
Founded in 2017, HotSpot is developing treatments for cancer and autoimmune through its Smart Allostery platform, which uses AI-powered data mining technology to identify natural hotspots on proteins that control protein function and which could be used to treat disease.
The series C proceeds will be used to support work on the company’s Smart Allostery platform and therapeutics pipeline. SR One led HotSpot’s $65m series B round in May 2020 prior to being spun off, investing with MRL Ventures Fund and Cleva Pharma, an affiliate of pharmaceutical company EMS’s Brace Pharma subsidiary.
The series B round also featured Tekla Capital Management, Solasta Ventures, Atlas Venture and Sofinnova Partners, the last two having co-led the company’s $45m series A round in 2018.
Jonathan Montagu, HotSpot’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “With the support of top-tier healthcare and technology investors, we will expand on the significant productivity of the Smart Allostery platform to enable a treasure trove of sought-after disease targets and thereby develop medicines that broadly benefit patients.”
