much smaller tranches of financing when I checked their filings in the SEC’s EDGAR database.
And to be sure, I am hearing promises that the list will grow with a few more newsworthy biotech startup financings before Christmas. If these things materialize, I will update this chart in coming weeks so that it can serve as a reference for all of 2013.
Lastly, I should note that when I scrubbed through the Thomson Reuters data on first-time financings, I was struck by how inflated the reported number of 102 first-time financings appears to be. Several of the companies counted shouldn’t qualify for a variety of reasons. Either it wasn’t their first financing, the first financing was much smaller than reported, or the company isn’t even a true life sciences entity. My review eliminated seven of the 32 biggest financings (22 percent), and I didn’t even bother to go really deep into the weeds of the $1 million financings.
With that, here are the 45 members of the “newsworthy” biotech startup class of 2013. As always, if I’ve overlooked any companies that meet the selection criteria, please let me know at [email protected] or @ldtimmerman on Twitter and I’ll be sure to update the chart.
| Company | Location | What does it do? | Who invested? | Amount | Source |
| Precision for Medicine | Bethesda, MD | Drug development services | J.H. Whitney, Oak Investment Partners | $150m | Thomson Reuters |
| Juno Therapeutics | Seattle | Cancer immunotherapy | Arch Venture Partners, Alaska Permanent Fund | $120m | Xconomy reporting (updated 12/4/13) |
| Spark Therapeutics | Philadelphia | Gene Therapy | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia | $50m | Press release (updated 12/13/13) |
| Jounce Therapeutics | Cambridge, MA | Cancer immunotherapy | Third Rock Ventures | $47m (likely smaller b | Thomson Reuters |
| Editas Medicine | Cambridge, MA | Gene editing | Polaris Partners, Third Rock Ventures, Flagship Ventures | $43m | Xconomy reporting (11/25/13) |
| GenSight Biologics | Paris, France | Gene therapy for ophthalmology | Novartis Venture Fund, Abingworth, Versant Ventures, Index Ventures | $41.3m | press release |
| ObsEva | Geneva, Switzerland | Drugs for pre-term labor | Sofinnova Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, Novo A/S, MS Ventures | $34.5m | press release |
| Audentes Therapeutics | San Francisco | Gene therapy for rare diseases | OrbiMed Advisors, 5AM Ventures, Versant Ventures | $30m | Thomson Reuters |
| Seragon Pharmaceuticals | San Diego | Cancer drugs | venBio, Topspin Fund, Aisling Capital, OrbiMed Advisors, The Column Group | $30m | Thomson Reuters |
| Pulmocide | London | Inhaled therapies for respiratory diseases | Imperial Innovations, SV Life Sciences, Fidelity Biosciences, Johnson & Johnson | $27.4m | BioCentury |
| Cydan | Cambridge, MA | Orphan drug startups | NEA, Pfizer Venture Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments, Lundbeckfond Ventures, Bay City Capital | $26m | press release |
| Envisia Therapeutics | Research Triangle Park, NC | Polymer drug delivery | Canaan Partners, NEA, Pappas Ventures, Morningside Technology Ventures, Wakefield Group. | $25m | press release |
| Apexigen | Burlingame, CA | Antibody drug development for cancer, inflammation | Amkey Ventures, WSR Capital, China Development Industrial Bank, Themes Investment Partners, and Sycamore Ventures. | $20m | Xconomy reporting (updated 12:45 pm PT) |
| Armo Therapeutics | Redwood City, CAs | Cancer immunotherapy, fibrosis, cardiovascular disease | Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, OrbiMed Advisors, DAG Ventures | $20m | Xconomy reporting 11/25/13) |
| BioClin Therapeutics | San Ramon, CA | Antibody drug for a rare genetic orphan disease (not disclosed) and cancer | Novo A/S | $20m | Xconomy reporting (updated 12:30 pm PT 11/19) |
| Allecra Therapeutics | Lorrach, Germany | Antibiotics | Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Forbion Capital Partners, EMBL Ventures | $19.6m | press release |
| Solstice Biologics | San Francisco | RNA interference | venBio, Aeris Capital | $18m | press release |
| Effector Therapeutics | San Diego | Cancer drugs | U.S. Venture Partners, Abingworth, Novartis Venture Funds, SR One, Astellas Venture Management, Osage University Partners and Mission Bay Capital | $17.4m (press release says $45m) | Thomson Reuters |
| Sideris Pharmaceuticals |
Boston | Iron-chelating drug | MPM Capital, Osage University Partners, Hatteras Venture Partners, Novartis | $17m | SEC filing (updated 10:45 am ET) |
| Allergen Research Corp. | San Mateo, CA | Oral immunotherapy for peanet allergies | Longitude Capital, Food Allergy Research and Education | $17m | press release |
| Biodesy | Burlingame, CA | Real-time analysis of protein function | 5AM Ventures, Pfizer Venture Investments and Roche Venture Fund. | $15m | press release |
| Tacurion Pharma | New York | Drug for frequent urination at night | InterWest Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures and Astellas Venture Management | $15m | Thomson Reuters |
| NextCode Health | Cambridge, MA | Genomic data interpretation/diagnosis | Arch Venture Partners, Polaris Partners | $15m | press release |
| Arvinas | New Haven, CT | Drug development | Canaan Partners, 5AM Ventures, Connecticut Innovations and Elm Street Ventures | $15m | press release |
| Labrys Biologics | San Mateo, CA | Antibody drug for migraines | venBio, Canaan Partners, InterWest Partners, and Sofinnova Ventures. | $14.6m (Jan. 3 press release said $31m) | SEC filing |
| Fractyl Laboratories | Waltham, MA | Medical devices for chronic diseases | Bessemer Venture Partners, Domain Associates | $14.4m | Thomson Reuters |
| Amphivena Therapeutics | Heidelberg, Germany | Drugs for blood cancers | MPM Capital,Aeris Capital, Affimed AG. | $14m | Thomson Reuters |
| X01 | Cambridge, UK | Anticoagulant therapy | Index Ventures | $11m | press release |
| Middle Peak Medical | Palo Alto, CA | Mitral valve heart device | Wellington Partners, Seventure Partners, High-Tech Gruenderfonds, BioMedInvest II, Edwards LifeSciences. | $11m | press release |
| Scanadu | Mountain View, CA | Personal health electronics/equipping smartphones for health monitoring | Relay Ventures, Tony Hsieh’s VegasTechFund, Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures | $10.5m | press release |
| Calorics Pharmaceuticals | Waltham, MA | Yeast-based drug discovery for calorie-restriction/diseases of aging | Polaris Partners, undisclosed investor | $10.2m | Thomson Reuters |
| CoStim Pharmaceuticals | Boston | Immunotherapy/antibody drugs for checkpoint inhibition | Not disclosed. But board has members from Atlas Venture, MPM Capital, J&J Development Corp. | $10m | SEC filing |
| Syros Pharmaceuticals | Watertown, MA | Cancer drugs | Arch Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures | $10m | SEC filing |
| Loxo Oncology | New York | Cancer drugs | Aisling Capital, OrbiMed Advisors and an undisclosed investor. | $10m | Thomson Reuters |
| Sitari Pharmaceuticals | San Diego | Drugs for celiac disease | Avalon Ventures, GlaxoSmithKline | $10m | press release |
| Channel Medsystems | San Francisco | Medical technology for heavy menstrual bleeding | Aperture Venture Partners LLC, Boston Scientific, DFJ Incube Ventures, Scientific Health Development Ltd,Undisclosed Investor | $9.8m | Thomson Reuters |
| ImmunGene | Thousand Oaks, CA | Cancer drugs | Ally Bridge Group | $9m | press release |
| ScioDerm | Raleigh, NC | Topical skin drug | Morgenthaler Ventures, Technology Partners | $9m | Thomson Reuters |
| InformedDNA | St. Petersburg, FL | Genetic counseling | MPM Capital, other undisclosed investors | $7.7m | Thomson Reuters |
| New Leaf Symbiotics | St. Louis, MO | Plant bacteria-derived products | Rockport Capital, Open Prairie Ventures, Pangaea Ventures, and several individuals. | $7m | Thomson Reuters |
| Arcturus Therapeutics | San Diego | RNA interference | Individual investors | $6.3m | Xconomy reporting |
| Semnur Pharmaceuticals | Mountain View, CA | Non-opioid drugs for back pain | Not disclosed, but board has members from Vivo Capital, Canaan Partners, and Frazier Healthcare Ventures | $6m | SEC filing |
| Dimension Therapeutics | Cambridge, MA | Gene therapy for rare diseases | Fidelity Biosciences | Not disclosed, but more than $5m | Xconomy reporting |
| Alector | San Francisco | Alzheimer’s drugs | Polaris Partners, OrbiMed Advisors | Not disclosed, but more than $5m | Xconomy reporting |
| Sofie Biosciences | Culver City, CA | New PET imaging technology | Tata Industries, MRM Capital, Cycad Group. | $5m | press release |
