ProfoundBio Announces Completion of More Than $55 million Series A Financing to Advance Novel Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) Portfolio

- Accelerates development of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and immuno-oncology (IO) technology platforms

- Enables lead best-in-class and first-in-class ADCs to enter clinical development

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Jul 12, 2021, 05:00 ET

WOODINVILLE, Wash. and SUZHOU, China, July 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ProfoundBio announced the closing of a $55+ million Series A financing round led by Lilly Asia Venture and co-led by LYFE Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital China and Oriza. All investors from the Series Pre-A financing, K2VC, Gaorong Capital, and Chang'an Capital, also participated in this round of financing.

ProfoundBio will use the proceeds to accelerate development and implementation of novel technology platforms for ADCs and IO therapeutics and to advance a portfolio of differentiated therapeutics into clinical development.

"We made significant progress with our lead programs and novel technology platforms since the completion of Series Pre-A financing. The additional funding will allow us to further strengthen and expand our integrated R&D capability, grow and broaden our innovative product pipeline, and prepare for multiple IND submissions in 2022 and beyond," said Baiteng Zhao, PhD, co-founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of ProfoundBio. "We are really excited about the enthusiastic participation of the new investors and the continued support from our shareholders. I am confident that by working together, we can bring more innovative targeted therapeutics to patients with cancer sooner."

"We believe emerging modalities, such as ADCs, will bring hope to patients with solid tumor to address the significant unmet medical needs," said Dr. Fei Chen, Managing Partner of LAV. "ProfoundBio's founding team are industry veterans with rich experience, deep knowhow and a FDA drug approval track record established during their tenure at the global leader of ADC drug development. It is a great pleasure to partner with ProfoundBio at this critical moment, and we are committed to support the company to realize the potential of ADC and create new targeted drugs for patients around the world."

According to LYFE Capital, "The antibody-drug conjugate modality has demonstrated great potential in oncology treatment. The ProfoundBio team has extensive R&D and clinical translation experience in ADC drug development. The company quickly established a strong R&D and translational platform and built up a differentiated ADC drug pipeline. We believe that the ProfoundBio team will leverage their rich experiences and efficient R&D platform to develop more differentiated ADC drug pipeline to address large unmet clinical needs in oncology."

"Congratulations to ProfoundBio on completing Series A funding!" said Lynn Yang, Partner of Sequoia Capital China. "Healthcare has been a key sector of investment since Sequoia Capital China's establishment. We are impressed by ProfoundBio's long-term commitment to ADC development, where the company has gained extensive experience and achieved remarkable progress. We hope ProfoundBio will continue creating value for society by helping more patients in their recovery."

"Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) has become another important sector after monoclonal antibodies," said Yunfei Chen, Investment Director of Oriza. "ProfoundBio's management team comes from SeaGen, a global leader in the ADC industry, which makes them well experienced in ADC development. ProfoundBio focuses on clinical unmet needs instead of overcrowded targets and mainly develops ADC drugs with innovative targets. We expect ProfoundBio to become a leading ADC enterprise. Oriza is pleased to help ProfoundBio grow rapidly and benefit more patients as soon as possible with greater success."

About ProfoundBio

ProfoundBio is an oncology biotherapeutics company focused on the development of novel antibody-based therapeutics with curative potential for patients with cancer. Built on innovative technology platforms, ProfoundBio has developed a pipeline consisting of multiple solid tumor-targeting drug candidates that are currently in discovery and preclinical development stages. ProfoundBio has operations in both the greater Seattle area, WA, USA and Suzhou, China.

For more information, please visit www.profoundbio.com.

About Lilly Asia Venture

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a leading biomedical venture capital firm, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto. As one of the earliest biomedical venture investors in China, LAV has been consistently investing in this region for over a decade. With a team of over 30 distinguished scientific, medical, investment, and operational professionals, LAV manages over $4.5 billion of committed capital. LAV's vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.

About LYFE Capital

Founded in 2015, LYFE Capital is a dedicated healthcare fund, with two offices set up in Shanghai, China and Menlo Park, US. We are actively seeking healthcare companies with exceptional management teams and expansive vision geared towards global markets. Our investment focus spans innovative biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics. We work closely with our portfolio companies to support their needs by providing capital and active support in global partnerships, collaborations, strategy, regulatory guidance and local market access. At LYFE Capital, our portfolio companies are not just investments, but rather long-term partners.

About Sequoia China

The Sequoia team helps daring founders build legendary companies. In partnering with Sequoia, companies benefit from our unmatched community and the lessons we've learned over 49 years. As "The Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," Sequoia China focuses on three sectors: TMT, consumer/services and healthcare. Over the past 16 years we've had the privilege of working with approximately 600 companies in China.

About Oriza

Suzhou Oriza Holdings Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Oriza Holdings") is an investment holding company with over RMB 100 billion under management. Its businesses cover equity investment, debt financing and investment & financing services. Oriza Holdings has achieved a great success in exploring financial creation, boosting science creation, guiding fund accumulation and upgrading industries through the coordination of the three businesses of capital operation, risk control and operation allocation, including China' s first national FOFs of equity investment etc.

Media/Investor contact
Tae Han
Phone: +1 650-922-0422
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE ProfoundBio