Khosla Ventures invests in companies that are bold, early, and impactful. The firm was started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to provide venture assistance to entrepreneurs. Khosla Ventures invests in a range of areas including AI, climate, sustainability, enterprise, consumer, fintech, digital health, medtech and diagnostics, therapeutics, and frontier technology.

Khosla Ventures

The Longevity Fund is investing in human longevity.

The Longevity Fund

Shanda Group is a private investment firm that was founded in 1999 by Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo. The company works across venture capital, private equity, public markets, and real estate, prioritizing investments in the financial services, technology, and healthcare sectors. Shanda has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Menlo Park. It invests in innovative companies and great management teams that have the vision and determination to change the world.

Shanda Group

Refactor is a seed-stage VC firm investing in bio, climate, and hard tech startups. Refactor leads or co-leads seed and pre-seed rounds with $1-2M checks.

Refactor

Ahren Innovation Capital is an investment institution that supports transformational companies at the intersection of deep tech and deep science that will penetrate, or create, massive markets.  Ahren is a unique partnership of investment talent and best-in-class commercial scientists whose technologies are today valued in excess of $100BN combined. Ahren believes in taking asymmetric, considered, risk that will deliver superior rewards – capturing a generational opportunity to provide smart capital to deep technology. With a philosophy espousing the importance of relationships and trust, Ahren provides both patient and active capital to exceptional founders and teams, empowering them to succeed.

Ahren Innovation Capital

IAG is an angel investor network that offers access to its affiliates to early-stage venture opportunities.  Its members to date have deployed over 22 million Euros to support 41 startups in the series seed/series A stage in many verticals, among which: Medtech, SAAS, e-commerce, Fintech, and high tech at large.  Every investment opportunity at IAG is vetted by a professional team together with expert members of the group.  Once invested, the company receives the support of up to two Investment champions, who bring their expertise to the table and help them succeed.

Italian Angels for Growth

LongeVC was created to support early-stage biotech and longevity-focused founders on their way to gain industrial momentum, raise capital, and grow to become the shapers of tomorrow's biotech industry.

LongeVC

R42 Group actively invents and finances deep science ventures. R42 Group will work from the pre-seed inventing stage through to the growth stage.

R42 Group

Hevolution is a research, science, and expertise in the field of healthspan science, reshaping policy, and regulation to support healthspan science for everyone's benefit. It offers humanity a path to a health span by supporting innovation in life sciences and medicine that focuses on the biology of aging itself rather than disease.

Hevolution

Modi Ventures is a Texas-based investment firm investing in fund managers and founders building companies shaping the future of humanity. The company's primary investment focus is into disruptive and emerging AI and Medical technology applications. Investments in successful funds include Khosla Ventures, Section 32, Artis Ventures, Draper Associates and Antler Global. Direct investments include, Starling Medicine and Cyberdontics. For more information please visit www.modivc.com.

Modi Ventures

Cerigo Investments is an investment firm.

Cerigo Investments

Oscar & Paul operates as a corporate venture capital firm of Beiersdorf.

Oscar & Paul

Rubedo Life Sciences

Rubedo Life Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that is developing a diverse portfolio of innovative therapies that are engineered to target cells that are responsible for chronic age-related diseases. Its proprietary ALEMBIC drug discovery platform has generated novel first-in-class small molecules designed to selectively target senescent cells, which are important in the progression of pulmonary, dermatological, oncological, neurodegenerative, fibrotic, and other chronic diseases. The Rubedo leadership team is made up of industry leaders and pioneers in chemistry, technology, and life sciences, with extensive experience in drug development and commercialization ranging from large pharma to biotech innovators.

Rubedo Life Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of innovative therapies engineered to target senescent cells, which drive the progression of chronic age-related diseases. The company's proprietary Alembic drug discovery platform has engineered novel first-in-class small molecules designed to selectively target various types of senescent cells that play a key role in the progression of pulmonary, dermatological, oncological, neurodegenerative, fibrotic, and other chronic disorders.

Rubedo Life Sciences Expands Leadership Team with Ali Siam as Chief Business Officer and Ofir Moreno, Ph.D., as SVP of Drug Discovery

Rubedo Life Sciences Announces Expansion of Scientific Advisory Board

Rubedo Life Sciences Closes $40M Series A Financing Led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital

Anti-aging human tests begin – and $40 million of funding is behind it

Rubedo Life Sciences Raises $40M in Series A Financing

Rubedo Raises $40M Series A to Combat Age-Related Diseases

Rubedo Life Sciences and Beiersdorf Announce Multi-Year Partnership to Pioneer New Skin Care Products that Address Cellular Aging

Rubedo Life Sciences Presents In Vivo Efficacy Data Targeting Senescence Cells to Treat Dermatological Diseases

Artificial intelligence is identifying and testing new therapies faster than ever.

AI Drug Discovery

With $40 million, Rubedo Life Sciences aims to clear away aging cells

Rubedo Life Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of innovative therapies engineered to target senescent cells, which drive the progression of chronic age-related diseases. The company's proprietary Alembic drug discovery platform has engineered novel first-in-class small molecules designed to selectively target various types of senescent cells that play a key role in the progression of pulmonary, dermatological, oncological, neurodegenerative, fibrotic, and other chronic disorders.
Rubedo's lead candidate, RLS-1496, has demonstrated promising in vivo efficacy in preclinical models of dermatological diseases by significantly reducing senescence signatures associated with skin senescent cells and improving skin pathophysiological manifestations. The company plans to advance RLS-1496 into Phase one studies in March 2024 for chronic atopic dermatitis and chronic psoriasis.
Additionally, Rubedo is developing therapies targeting senescent cells in pulmonary diseases with significant unmet medical needs, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). One of the company's programs in this area received a substantial grant from CIRM in 2023.
In March 2023, Rubedo presented in vivo efficacy data for its lead compound at the American Academy of Dermatology conference, showcasing its potential to treat inflammatory dermatological diseases driven by cellular senescence.
In April 2024, Rubedo closed a USD 40 million Series A financing round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from several other investors. The funding will support the advancement of RLS-1496 into clinical studies and further development of the company's pipeline.

<div>
 
 HiberCell is a biotechnology company that develops novel therapies focused on oncology. It entered the AI drug discovery space when it acquired AI genomics analysis company Genuity Science (and its subsidiaries in Iceland and Ireland) in August 2021.&nbsp;
 
 
 Genuity Science&rsquo;s solutions include end-to-end therapeutic discovery and development services such as building custom disease datasets, discovering and prioritizing targets, identifying biomarkers, and optimizing clinical trials. Genuity Science leverages its AI-powered platform to manage, process, and analyze genomic data. HiberCell intends to use Genuity Science&rsquo;s AI/ML capabilities to advance its oncology pipeline of five programs, of which one has reached the Phase 2 clinical trial stage.
 
 
 As of March 2024, the company&rsquo;s pipeline included three drug candidates, namely: 1) HC-7366, targeting the general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) kinase as part of the integrated stress response (ISR) signaling pathway; 2) HC-5404, aimed at inhibiting the PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling pathway; and 3) odetiglucan, a therapy targeting tumor-immune interactions within the tumor microenvironment​.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In December 2023, HiberCell and Merck &amp; Co partnered to conduct a Phase Ib trial to evaluate the combination therapy of belzutifan and HC-7366 for treating clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Further, in January 2021, the company partnered with Biodesix to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as a companion diagnostic test.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://hibercell.com/news/hibercell-closes-67-4-million-series-b-financing-and-secures-30-million-debt-facility-from-hercules-capital/">
 May 2021
 </a>
 , HiberCell completed a Series B financing round, raising USD 67.4 million, and secured an additional USD 30 million in debt financing from Hercules Capital. The funds were expected to be used for clinical advancement of its novel therapeutic candidates. 
 
</div>

HiberCell

<div>
 
 Arbor Biotechnologies specializes in gene editing to develop novel therapeutics for a variety of indications, starting with liver-related diseases. It operates an AI-powered biodiscovery platform to discover novel CRISPR enzymes, which are sequences of repeating genetic code. To do this, its platform deploys computational search techniques, genome sequencing, gene synthesis, and high-throughput screening. This can eventually be turned into drugs or even applied to agriculture and other industrial uses. In 2018, the company announced the discovery of Cas13d, a new type of gene editing enzyme that helps to alter RNA to treat genetic diseases.&nbsp;
 
 
 As of February 2024, the company had five internal drug discovery programs, of which one was in the IND-enabling stage. It also has multiple collaborative programs under development focused on oncology and various other therapeutic areas.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has a long-standing partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals since
 <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190103005194/en/Vertex-and-Arbor-Biotechnologies-Establish-Collaboration-to-Discover-Novel-Proteins-to-Advance-Discovery-of-Gene-Editing-Therapies">
 January 2019
 </a>
 , which focused on developing gene-editing treatments for cystic fibrosis and four other diseases. The alliance was further extended in 
 <a href="https://www.biospace.com/article/vertex-and-arbor-strike-a-1-2-billion-deal-for-gene-editing-programs/">
 August 2021
 </a>
 and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15741">
 January 2023
 </a>
 .&nbsp;
 
 
 Other partnerships included a collaboration with 
 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arbor-biotechnologies-announces-collaboration-with-ginkgo-bioworks-to-advance-the-discovery-and-development-of-precision-gene-editors-302011991.html">
 Ginkgo Bioworks
 </a>
 (December 2023) to leverage Ginkgo's R&amp;D services to further optimize Arbor's novel precision editors, a non-exclusive licensing agreement with 
 <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/08/2380680/0/en/EdiGene-and-Arbor-Biotechnologies-Announce-Worldwide-Non-exclusive-License-Agreement-to-Advance-Ex-Vivo-Engineered-Cell-Therapy-Programs.html">
 EdiGene
 </a>
 (February 2022) to leverage Arbor&rsquo;s platform for ex vivo oncology therapies, a strategic research and non-exclusive licensing agreement with 
 <a href="https://investors.tcr2.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tcr2-therapeutics-and-arbor-biotechnologies-establish">
 TCR2 Therapeutics
 </a>
 (January 2022) to develop allogeneic TRuC T-cell therapies using Arbor&rsquo;s CRISPR technology, and a license agreement with 
 <a href="https://www.lonza.com/news/2020-12-23-14-00">
 Lonza
 </a>
 (December 2020) to use Arbor&rsquo;s gene-editing technology for Lonza&rsquo;s bioproduction products and services.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In its latest Series B funding round in November 2021, which was led by Ally Bridge Group, TCG Crossover, and Temasek, Arbor Biotechnologies raised USD 215 million. The proceeds of the round were earmarked to fuel the company&rsquo;s clinical development pipeline.
 
</div>

Arbor Biotechnologies

Based in the UK, Arctoris provides an automated drug discovery platform, offering fully validated research and development (R&amp;D) processes under an Experiments-as-a-Service model. The company works with biotechnology companies, AI drug discovery companies, pharma and academic institutions enabling these institutions to run experiments in Arctoris’s platform and provides on-demand access to a broad scale of datasets for AI drug discovery companies to train their algorithms.

Arctoris

<div>
 
 Frontier Medicines leverages AI/ML technologies to develop treatments for cancer-causing proteins that are dismissed by traditional pharma companies as undruggable.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company has a proprietary chemoproteomic platform which entails an approach based on the interaction of small-molecule compounds and proteins to screen a large number of targets and combine them with a protein database that contains more than 150,000 novel binding pockets (hotspots). This enables it to access 90% of the human proteome that were not previously targeted due to lack of hotspots. The platform&rsquo;s AI/ML engine incorporates a library of diverse compounds, a hotspot map that serves as the starting point for understanding the druggability of a potential therapeutic target, and lead design and generation.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company focuses on oncology and immunology target and, as of February 2024, it had five wholly-owned therapeutic programs and three AbbVie-partnered programs in its pipeline. All programs were in their discovery stage, except the company&rsquo;s lead candidate, FMC-376 (activated and inactivated forms), focused on treating different cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal carcinoma (CRC), and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which is in the IND-enabling stage.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company entered a USD 100 million partnership with 
 <a href="https://news.abbvie.com/2020-12-02-AbbVie-and-Frontier-Medicines-Establish-Global-Partnership-to-Discover-and-Develop-Novel-Therapies-and-E3-Degraders-Against-Difficult-to-Drug-Targets">
 AbbVie
 </a>
 In December 2020 to develop small-molecule therapeutics against hard-to-drug protein targets including around 600 E3 ligases (the enzymes that drive the ubiquitination and degradation of proteins.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In July 2021, the company raised USD 88.5 million in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4347">
 Series B
 </a>
 funding round co-led by Woodline Partners LP and RA Capital Management, with equal participation from Deerfield Management Company. The proceeds were earmarked for advancing the company&rsquo;s drug pipeline and expanding operations in Boston, where its new facility was to complement the company&rsquo;s headquarters in California. 
 
</div>

Frontier Medicines

<div>
 
 Verge Genomics is a biotechnology company engaged in developing therapeutics for neurological diseases using human genomics and AI to accelerate drug discovery. The main target areas are Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease (PD), and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).&nbsp;
 
 
 It has built a proprietary all-human platform (unlike standard clinical trials that rely on animal data), called CONVERGE, that uses data sets from brain tissue samples of deceased patients with ALS and PD. While most drugs target only one gene at a time, the company claims its technology can identify hundreds of genes that cause disease and develop drugs that target all the genes at the same time. The company uses AI technology to optimize the drug discovery process as a whole.
 
 
 As of March 2024, Verge had one drug candidate in the clinical stage (Phase I) and 10 drug candidates in the discovery stage.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has partnerships with various tissue banks (such as Harvard University and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine) and several educational institutes and foundations (such as Target ALS, Answer ALS) that enabled its drug discovery platform.&nbsp;
 
 
 In addition, the company&rsquo;s customers include several pharmaceutical companies, such as 1) 
 <a href="https://www.vergegenomics.com/news-blog/verge-genomics-announces-research-collaboration-with-the-sheffield-institute-for-translational-neuroscience">
 Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
 </a>
 to accelerate the validation of novel drug targets and screening of drug compounds for Parkinson's disease (February 2021), 2) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4146">
 Eli Lilly
 </a>
 to research and develop novel therapies to treat ALS (July 2021), 3) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21707">
 Alexion
 </a>
 to identify novel drug targets for rare neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases (September 2023), and 4) 
 <a href="https://www.vergegenomics.com/news-blog/verge-genomics-and-the-pritzker-neuropsychiatric-disorders-research-consortium-form-cutting-edge-schizophrenia-research-collaboration">
 Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium
 </a>
 to analyze data from schizophrenic patient&rsquo;s brain tissue with Verge&rsquo;s technology (October 2023).
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In December 2021, Verge raised USD 98 million in an oversubscribed 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7426">
 Series A
 </a>
 funding round led by BlackRock. The funds were used to scale up its pre-clinical and clinical candidate programs in the pipeline and enhance its lead therapeutics through clinical testing. 
 
</div>

Verge Genomics

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies for drug discovery services such as target selection, validation and lead optimization.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies to design and run preclinical experiments.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies to identify biomarkers (measurable biological signs used to determine disease progression) and predict drug response. 

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies aggregating and analyzing biomedical data with the help of AI to generate insights across the drug development pipeline.

Biotechnology companies that have integrated AI as a core component of their in-house drug development process. They typically have a few in-house drug development programs, and also collaborate with pharma companies to develop certain drugs.

Companies leverage GenAI to support drug discovery through accelerated drug designing

Companies offer AI/ML-based SaaS products to accelerate the discovery and development of novel therapeutics

Offers AI/ML-based solutions to accelerate drug discovery and development

Longevity Tech

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 
 Rubedo Life Sciences has raised USD 40 million in Series A funding, led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital. Other participants include Hevolution, R42, Modi Ventures, Cerigo Investments, Shanda Group, Refactor Capital, LongeVC, and Italian Angels for Growth (IAG). This brings the total funds raised by the company to USD 53.5 million.
 The company plans to use the investment to take its lead therapeutic candidate, RLS-1496, into Phase 1 trials for chronic atopic dermatitis and chronic psoriasis.
 Rubedo Life Sciences, based in California, is a biopharmaceutical firm. It focuses on creating new ways to target senescent cells that contribute to age-related diseases. Using its Alembic drug discovery platform, the firm has identified druggable targets for therapeutic development aimed primarily at combating age-related pathologies.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Prior to this, in February 2023, the company received USD 1.45 million in grant funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to support the R&amp;D of a pharmacological regenerative treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis targeting senescent lung stem cells.

Rubedo Life Sciences

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