REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Integrated Biosciences, a biotechnology company pioneering the use of synthetic biology and machine learning to develop next-generation therapeutics for age-related diseases, today announced that it has closed a $17.2 million seed financing, led by Sutter Hill Ventures with participation from Root Ventures, Civilization Ventures, Illumina Ventures Labs, Lifespan Vision Ventures, Overlap Holdings, SH Fund (Sabrina Hahn), Conscience VC, Mission BioCapital, Reinforced Ventures, Polymath Capital, Michael Stoppelman, and Vijay Pandurangan. The company also announced that Keith Loebner, Ph.D. has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors and that Karl Sylvester, M.D., Uri Alon, Ph.D., and Wendy B. Young, Ph.D. have been appointed as advisors to the company.
“We started Integrated Biosciences to make real progress toward achieving healthier human aging,” said Felix Wong, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO. “The new capital will significantly advance our efforts toward this ambitious goal by enabling us to scale up our synthetic biology and AI platform while investing in the clinical development of our small-molecule portfolio. Our world-class syndicate, led by Sutter Hill Ventures, represents visionary investors who appreciate our scientific progress and understand that we are an entirely different type of company, in terms of both our mission and our technology.”
Founded in September 2022, Integrated Biosciences has consistently reported on its drug discovery engine in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Aging, and Cell Systems. Integrated Biosciences differentiates itself by using synthetic biology and optogenetics to control and generate highly specific data across different cellular phenotypes. This capability enables the company to identify new targets, modulate any biological pathway of interest, and deploy its proprietary AI platform to discover precise and novel small-molecule drug candidates. Having pioneered the first AI-driven discovery of a structural class of antibiotics last year, the company is now developing a portfolio of preclinical-stage assets to treat multiple age-related diseases.
“Drug discovery is broken, and we are here to fix it,” said Max Wilson, Ph.D., Co-Founder. “Our synthetic biology platform gives us access to the purest stress responses, that alongside our chemistry and AI platforms allows us to rapidly produce small molecule leads that modulate these stress responses in novel ways. What this means is that we can get more selective, structurally unique drug candidates faster by years, significantly increasing the efficiency of drug candidate development. Our track record already proves this. Looking ahead, we envision a future where targeting aging is tractable and age-related diseases are eradicated.”
Integrated Biosciences has assembled an A-list of strategic advisors. The company’s Scientific Advisory Board is chaired by James J. Collins, Ph.D., Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, and includes Sir David W. C. MacMillan Ph.D., winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton. The announcement of Dr. Karl Sylvester, Dr. Uri Alon, and Dr. Wendy B. Young as advisors represents the company’s strengthening position in translational development. Dr. Sylvester is a Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, Associate Dean of Maternal and Child Health Research at Stanford, and Co-Director of the Stanford Metabolic Health Center. Dr. Alon, a Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the Head of the Sagol Center for Longevity Research, studies aging from a systems biology and systems medicine perspective. Dr. Young is an advisor to Google Ventures and has more than 30 years of experience in the discovery and development of new medicines and research platforms, having served as Senior Vice President of Genentech’s Small Molecule Drug Discovery division.
“Integrated Biosciences is unique in that the company has demonstrated time and again that it can consistently produce meaningful scientific results bridging basic research with real drug development,” said Dr. Collins, who last year was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate for scientific work deemed to be of Nobel class. “From inventing new synthetic biology-based platforms that upend traditional drug screening to developing drug candidates for clinical testing, Integrated is well-poised to continue generating substantial value.”
Integrated Biosciences plans to use the new funding to accelerate the development of its drug pipeline, further develop its platform, and advance its commercialization efforts. The company’s approach of targeting fundamental, age-related pathways on the phenotypic level enables it to develop assets that have broad applicability to treating diverse diseases. Building on its strength in rapidly discovering and developing assets, the company is pursuing a multi-asset business model in which assets will be advanced through a combination of company-led development and co-development partnerships.
“We’re taking a less-trodden approach to drug discovery and development, with the goal of developing multiple drug candidates where each can bring substantial value,” said Satotaka Omori, Ph.D., Head of Aging Biology and a member of the company’s founding team. “This type of diversified approach fully leverages our ability to phenotypically target different age-related pathways. The industry should take note, because we move fast.”
Integrated Biosciences maintains several partnerships with private companies and a previously announced partnership with Illumina Ventures Labs. Integrated Biosciences’ partnerships will enable it to pursue large-scale projects and differentiated commercialization routes. The company’s drug discovery platform and unique commercialization routes contributed to attracting the attention of its advisors.
“I joined Integrated given the exciting and novel approach being pioneered to bridge the translation of fundamental biology to new clinical medicines,” said Dr. Sylvester. “As a practicing physician and translational scientist, I see tremendous opportunity in the approach Integrated is taking and value in the products that Integrated will develop to improve the lives of patients. The biology is exciting, the technology is exciting, and the company is exciting. I very much look forward to helping Integrated drive important clinical decisions and strategy.”
Sutter Hill Ventures, a venture capital firm typically focused on originating companies, led the current fundraise, reflecting the unique synergy between the company’s scientific and clinical ambitions along with Sutter Hill Ventures’ company-building expertise. Sutter Hill Ventures pursues a limited number of external investments every year, and its past incubations and investments include Pure Storage, Snowflake, NVIDIA, GRAIL, and Helix.
About Integrated Biosciences
Integrated Biosciences is a biotechnology company pioneering novel approaches that combine synthetic biology and AI-driven small-molecule drug discovery to produce next-generation therapeutics targeting age-related diseases. For more information, visit: www.integratedbiosciences.com.