RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – StrideBio, an emerging startup focusing on gene therapies, is gearing up for more growth after closing on a big $81.5 million round of venture capital.
Backed by Hatteras Venture Partners in Durham, StrideBio announced the new, second round of cash early Tuesday. The round was oversubscribed, the company says.
In 2018, StrideBio raised nearly $16 million in an oversubscribed first round of funding.
The new funding comes after StrideBio struck a $48 million licensing deal with rare disease drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics in 2019.
Sapan Shah, a 20-year life science industry veteran, was named StrideBio’s CEO that same year.
“We are very pleased to receive such tremendous support from these top-tier healthcare investors and appreciate the confidence they have placed in our entire team,”Shah said of the new funding. “With this additional funding secured we will be able to translate next generation gene therapies enabled by our lead engineered capsids into the clinic to benefit patients.”
The funds will be used to advance development of products, including those with central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular disorders as targets.
StrideBio is focused on what it calls engineered viral vectors, or AAV, for gene therapy. The firm has already announced it has struck a deal with Crispr Therapeutics to develop in vivo gene delivery applications. As part of the deal, StrideBio will receive development funding, milestones and royalties on licensed vectors, and retain certain rights to use the novel AAV vectors for gene therapy applications.
The technology is based on the work of Dr. Aravind Asokan at UNC-Chapel Hill and Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna at the University of Florida.
Northpond Ventures and Novo Holdings A/S led the new round. New investors Pontifax, Octagon Capital, Sarepta Therapeutics, CaaS Capital and UF Innovate Ventures.
Hatteras also participated in the new round as did other previous investors UCB Ventures, Takeda Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Shaan C. Gandhi, director at Northpond Ventures, and Karen Hong, partner at Novo Ventures, join the StrideBio board as part of the deal.
Durham life science startup StrideBio raises $15.7M in oversubscribed VC round
