Ancilia Biosciences, Inc., a NYC-based biotechnology company using CRISPR to create bacterial therapies and products with immunity against destructive viruses, raised $4.2M in funding.
The round was led by Safar Partners, with the participation from Metaplanet, Psymed Ventures, Zubi Capital, Spacecadet Ventures and other investors. In conjunction with the financing, Vera Schroeder, PhD, a partner and member of the Investment Committee at Safar Partners, has joined the Ancilia Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its R&D sector.
Led by CEO Alexandra Sakatos, Ancilia Biosciences is developing virus-resistant live bacterial products for human health and other applications. Its proprietary enabling technologies identify and characterize viral phages and leverage the natural function of CRISPR to produce a new class of live biotherapeutics and other microbial products with immunity to key viral pathogens.
The proprietary CoVE™ platform first identifies and characterizes viruses, formerly a notoriously difficult challenge. The company then applies its proprietary EPIC platform, which leverages bacteria’s natural CRISPR function to create live biotherapeutics and other microbial products that are immune to these viruses, with the potential for greater efficacy and utility. Ancilia’s scientists have achieved proof-of-concept and obtained key patents protecting these inventions.
The company’s core technologies are based on the work of co-founder Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou, who established this natural function of CRISPR in bacteria and filed the first-ever CRISPR patent in 2004, and co-founder and chief technology officer David Paez-Espino, PhD, who has published more than 20 high impact papers in virology and bioinformatics and holds multiple patents in the field.
FinSMEs
28/08/2024