The proceeds from the funding round will be used by the company to advance the Phase 1 proof-of-mechanism study of its two lead programmes
Seismic Therapeutic secures $121m in a Series B funding round. (Credit: Louis Reed on Unsplash)
Seismic Therapeutic, a machine learning (ML) immunology company, has raised $121m in a Series B financing round to advance the development of its immunology pipeline optimised by its ML-powered IMPACT platform.
The funding round was led by new investor Bessemer Venture Partners. It also had participation from other new investors, Amgen Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Codon Capital, Gaingels and GC&H.
Existing investors such as Timothy A. Springer, Polaris Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Boxer Capital, GV, Samsara BioCapital, and management and founders also took part in the Series B round.
According to Seismic Therapeutic, the proceeds from the funding round will be used to advance the Phase 1 proof-of-mechanism study of its two lead programmes. These include a PD-1 agonist:Fc gamma receptor IIb selective dual-cell bidirectional (DcB) antibody candidate (S-4321) and a pan‑immunoglobulin (Ig) G protease sculpting (Sc) enzyme candidate (S-1117).
Furthermore, the Series B funding will support the ongoing expansion of the company’s pipeline, encompassing both IgSc and DcB product areas, extending beyond the lead programmes.
The funding will also empower the company to extend the capabilities of the IMPACT platform. This involves developing and implementing additional methods to advance the discovery of biologics drugs in the field of immunology.
The IMPACT platform combines machine learning with protein engineering, structural biology, and translational immunology for drug research.
Seismic Therapeutic founder, president, and CEO Jo Viney said: “We are delighted to secure the support of such a strong syndicate of investors who believe in Seismic’s ability to pioneer a new era of immunology drug development integrating machine learning.
“This financing enables us to continue our momentum and advance both of our exciting lead programs into the clinic. We believe the time is right to harness advances in machine learning to discover the next generation of biologics drugs to improve the lives of patients with autoimmune diseases.”
The Series B financing takes the total capital raised by the ML immunology company to $222m.