Top Life Sciences Startups to Watch in 2021
- Sonoma Biotherapeutics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | T cell therapy |
Headquarters | South San Francisco, California |
Founded | |
Founders | Jeffrey Bluestone, Qizhi Tang, Fred Ramsdell, Alexander Rudensky |
Number of Employees | 11-50 |
Total Funding Amount | $70M |
Top investors | Alexandria Venture Investments, JDRF T1D Fund, Lifeforce Capital |
Website | https://www.sonomabio.com/ |
Sonoma BioTherapeutics is focused on developing adoptive Treg therapies cells for autoimmune and degenerative diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. It is designing the future of living treatments for the autoimmune disease – safe, reliable treatments personalized for every patient. The firm’s goal is to produce a best-in-class regulatory T cell therapy that supplies long-lasting, extremely effective therapies for autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
Regulatory T cell therapies that harness a person’s own immune cells, effective next-generation gene editing and enhancing methods, and advanced production and quality assurance processes.
2. Forge Biologics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Gene Therapy |
Headquarters | Grove City, Ohio, United States |
Founded Year | 2020 |
Founders | Timothy J Miller, Erandi De Silva, Jaysson Eicholtz |
Number of Employees | 11-50 |
Total Funding Amount | $40M |
Top investors | Drive Capital, Perceptive Advisors |
Website | https://www.forgebiologics.com/ |
Forge Biologics is a gene therapy development engine aimed at enabling accessibility to life-transforming gene therapies and helping bring them from a thought into reality. They bring proficiency in gene therapy manufacturing and therapy development to the table.
The firm is presently building the “Hearth,” a 175,000 ft2 custom-designed cGMP plant, for AAV viral vector production at the 500L scale. They offer end-to-end manufacturing services to expedite gene therapy programs from the preclinical phase through clinical and on to industrial production.
Forge Biologics Manufacturing Overview from DP Studios on Vimeo.
The company’s lead program is FBX-101, a novel AAV and umbilical cord transplant combination method to treat infantile Krabbe disease.
3. MoMa Therapeutics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Molecular machines – Enzymes |
Headquarters | Cambridge, MA |
Founded | 2020 |
Founders | Timur Yusufzai, Johannes Walter, Eva Nogales, Dorothee Kern |
Number of Employees | 11-50 |
Total Funding Amount | $86M |
Top investors | Third Rock Ventures, Nextech Invest, Rock Springs Capital |
Website | http://www.momatx.com/ |
MoMa Therapeutics is a biotechnology company with an objective to unlock molecular machines by understanding and appreciating their complexities. The firm is aimed at “molecular machines,” which are enzymes that create force, work, and motion. There are over 400 proteins in the molecular machine family, and they have a broad spectrum of processes within cells.
They are also focusing on cancer and rare diseases – the objective is to determine molecular machines utilizing genomic information and using small molecules to intervene, potentially fixing malfunction in rare diseases and tumors.
4. BIOMILQ
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Cultured milk |
Headquarters Location | Durham, North Carolina, United States |
Founded Year | 2019 |
Founders | Michelle Egger and Leila Strickland |
Number of Employees | 1-10 |
Total Funding Amount | $3.5M |
Top investors | Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shazi Visram, Blue Horizon Ventures, and Purple Orange Ventures |
Website | https://www.biomilq.com/ |
BIOMILQ is a US-based biotech startup working on cultured milk. It leverages their patent-pending innovation to manufacture nutritionally similar breastmilk from cultured human mammary cells from expectant mothers. With Biomilq, families can accomplish the suggested 6 months of special breastfeeding while easing the environmental effects of bovine-based infant formula. Among the biggest issues, BioTech is tackling is the unsustainable and unethical range of industrial production of animal-based foods.
By culturing them in a center, BIOMILQ manufactures nutritionally identical breastmilk. The startup’s service is a much more extensive and sustainable breastmilk alternative when opposed to baby supplements.
5. Auxilius
Categories | Biotechnology – Information Technology |
Services: | Clinical trial financial management platform |
Headquarters Location: | New York, NY |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Adam Weisman |
Number of Employees: | 1-10 |
Website | https://www.auxili.us/ |
Auxilius offers clinical trial financial management software for Biopharma industries. The firm develops a data-driven, clinical trial financial management system, which aids biotech firms to make sure that outsourced partners fulfill the agreement terms, budget plans, and milestones. The service performs proactive situation modeling to adjust expenses and timelines during the clinical trials. Their platform helps in improving the success of clinical trials by managing financial risk.
The company helps clinical trial sponsors hold essential outsourced partnered responsible for contracting terms, budgets, and milestones.
6. Kumuda
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Drug Discovery |
Headquarters Location: | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Founded Year | 2020 |
Founders | Parisa Razaz |
Number of Employees | 1-10 |
Total Funding Amount | $120K |
Top investors | Techstars Boston Accelerator, and Techstars |
Website | https://kumudarx.com/ |
Kumuda is expediting the early-phase discovery of small molecule drugs. With its platform, the firm identified a powerful inhibitor drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2. The inhibitor candidate obstructs the human ACE2 receptor, preventing the entry of the coronavirus. The firm is likewise targeting neurological disorders and other diseases.
The company’s proprietary in silico drug discovery platform expands the druggable genome and makes it possible for the discovery of unique small molecules to address high-value medical requirements for people. They aim at standards required for success from the outset. Their strategy has actually unlocked numerous first-in-class small molecule drug targets by efficiently leveraging the wealth of multi-faceted data offered, like the evaluation of more than 4 million compounds and around 16,000 crystal structures.
7. Curative – COVID-19 Testing
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Scaling COVID-19 Testing Across the United States |
Headquarters Location: | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Fred Turner, Isaac Turner, Vlad Slepnev |
Number of Employees: | 501-1000 |
Top investors | Justin Mateen |
Website | https://curative.com/ |
Curative is scaling COVID-19 detection – screening numerous people in the USA. Swiftly following the COVId-29 outbreak, several medical diagnosis startups and firms developed COVID-19 screening methods. The firm was formerly established to develop tests for sepsis; the start-up quickly swiveled to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
They have developed a pain-free and self-administered swab test approved by FDA. The test takes only 20 secs, and the result is provided by means of text and e-mail within 2 days. They are constructing infrastructure to make necessary health services easier to access for everyone. Their infrastructure is created to alter as the globe does – providing neighboring accessibility, budget-friendly services, and also science-based assistance.
8. Adnexi
Categories | Information Technology and Services |
Services | Strategic intelligence platform for biopharma |
Headquarters Location | Palo Alto, California, United States |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Sandra Shpilberg |
Number of Employees | 1-10 |
Website | https://www.adnexi.com/ |
Adnexi supplies a disease intelligence platform for biopharma. It discovers patient advocacy groups (PAGs) and key opinion leaders (KOLs). Using strategic intelligence, the system links these stakeholders to the drug development process. The system monitors the treatment ecosystem for a disease to monitor all organizations developing treatments.
Adnexi is a KOL discovery, and monitoring system developed to increase drug development for the advantage of people. The platform uses sophisticated algorithms to identify clinicians, scientists, crucial publications, patients advocacy leaders, and clinical trials for any disease and offers team teamwork and efficiency tools to manage these key relationships. The system is packed with the data that arising biopharma firms require to develop their breakthrough treatments.
9. PolarisQB
Categories | Artificial Intelligence Biotechnology Quantum Computing |
Services | Drug blueprints to treat and cure all diseases |
Headquarters Location: | Durham, North Carolina, United States |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Bill Shipman, Shahar Keinan |
Number of Employees: | 1-10 |
Website | https://polarisqb.com/ |
Polaris Quantum Biotech transforms drug design by combining quantum computing with Artificial Intelligence and precision medicine. The conventional drug development process takes more than 10 years and billions of dollars to get one medicine into the marketplace. Data-driven drug exploration allows effective parsing with huge quantities of biomedical literary works and omics data. This informs novel drug design and searches for druggable targets for unmet diseases. Furthermore, it enables in-silico screening of new and existing medicines for an array of various other diseases.
The firm searches the novel chemical space quicker to reduce the lead time for preclinical drug candidates by order of magnitude. Their platform will certainly generate about 100 drug blueprints annually. The will reduce the lead time for preclinical drug prospects from 5 years to just 4 months, making it possible for real-time versatility to the precision medicine market.
10. ANA Therapeutics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | COVID-19 vaccine |
Headquarters Location: | Foster City, California, United States |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Akash Bakshi, Andrew Bartynski, and Nadja Mannowetz |
Number of Employees: | 1-10 |
Total Funding Amount | $5M |
Top investors | SV Tech Ventures, SV Angel, Matt Rogers |
Website | https://anatherapeutics.com/ |
ANA Therapeutics is a biotech firm that is developing the COVID-19 vaccine. The firm is examining niclosamide, a drug utilized for the therapy of tapeworm infestations. ANA001, the startup’s repurposed medicine, is going through stage 2 clinical trials. In the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, early results show that the medicine shows both antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity.
11. Pulmobiotics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Novel treatments and vaccines for respiratory diseases |
Headquarters | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Maria Lluch |
Number of Employees: | 1-10 |
Total Funding Amount | €2M |
Top investors | Invivo Capital Partners |
Website | https://www.pulmobio.com/ |
Pulmobiotics develops vaccines for respiratory diseases. The company’s platform combines microbial engineering and synthetic biology – utilizes attenuated bacteria to deliver antigens or therapeutic agents to the lungs. The bacteria deliver the antigen or the therapeutics in a particular region in a controlled and continual way. The firm is working on vaccines for both lung cancers and transmittable diseases.
12. MRM Health
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Microbiome-based Therapeutics |
Headquarters Location | Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Sam Possemiers |
Number of Employees | 11-50 |
Total Funding Amount | €14M |
Top investors | Ackermans & van Haaren, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences, VIB, Qbic Fund |
Website | https://www.mrmhealth.com/ |
MRM Health focuses on the exploration and development of innovative human microbiome-based therapeutics. Their platform models the human intestine, contributing useful understandings into intestinal processes. This data then permits MRM Health to study the intake of drugs in the human gut. The company’s pipeline consists of biotherapeutics for the treatment of spondyloarthritis, ulcerative colitis, metabolic diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease.
The firms’ exclusive technology system brings real-time microbial therapies development to the next level by integrating rationally picked strains right into synergistic consortia with a proprietary optimization procedure.
13. Evora Biosciences
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Exosomes-based therapies |
Headquarters Location | Igny, France |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Hadrien Lanvin, and Amanda Silva Brun |
Number of Employees | 1-10 |
Website | https://www.evorabio.com/ |
Evora Biosciences provides next-generation cell therapies. The firm uses stem-cell-derived exosomes to replicate the regenerative potential of stem cells. But, unlike stem cell treatments, exosomes provide an easier and more cost-effective option. EVOGEX, the company’s lead product, promotes the recovery of the digestive fistula. This causes improvements in patient outcomes in intestinal indications.
14. ROME Therapeutics
Categories | Biotechnology |
Services | Therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases |
Headquarters Location | Greater Boston Area, East Coast, New England |
Founded Year: | 2020 |
Founders | Rosana Kapeller |
Number of Employees: | 1-10 |
Total Funding Amount | $50M |
Top investors | GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Partners Innovation Fund |
Website | https://rometx.com/ |
ROME Therapeutics develops novel treatments for autoimmune conditions and cancers. The firm leverages new understandings regarding the repeatome of the human genome. Merging approaches from oncology, immunology, and AI, the firm is exploring numerous promising medication targets. The firm’s therapeutics further look to drive the most relentless cancer cells and autoimmune disorders into sustained remission.
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