Centivax

Centivax raised another $37M! Many vaccine companies are struggling to finance in the midst of extreme regulatory uncertainty. But Centivax has managed to differentiate and continue to attract capital. Last year, we were proud to join the mission for the $45M Series A. Since then, Centivax has started Phase 1 studies for their universal flu vaccine. Now, their next round has been pre-empted by a syndicate including some of the most impactful entrepreneurs in the game right now. $37M in fresh capital led by Structure Fund (Oliver Mulherin & Sam Altman), alongside Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Sigmas Group, Kendall Capital Partners, and Stripe founders Patrick and John Collison. I attribute this to: 1) a potentially world-changing scientific platform (one of the most exciting possible applications of computational biology) and 2) a world-class team led by a true visionary CEO in Jake Glanville. We are now capitalized through Phase 2. As Jake says, "If our data looks good by the end of this year, effectively, the pandemic era for influenza is over." (Link to news coverage in comments.)

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Centivax raised another $37M! Many vaccine companies are struggling to finance in the midst of extreme regulatory uncertainty. But Centivax has managed to differentiate and continue to attract capital. Last year, we were proud to join the mission for the $45M Series A. Since then, Centivax has started Phase 1 studies for their universal flu vaccine. Now, their next round has been pre-empted by a syndicate including some of the most impactful entrepreneurs in the game right now. $37M in fresh capital led by Structure Fund (Oliver Mulherin & Sam Altman), alongside Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Sigmas Group, Kendall Capital Partners, and Stripe founders Patrick and John Collison. I attribute this to: 1) a potentially world-changing scientific platform (one of the most exciting possible applications of computational biology) and 2) a world-class team led by a true visionary CEO in Jake Glanville. We are now capitalized through Phase 2. As Jake says, "If our data looks good by the end of this year, effectively, the pandemic era for influenza is over." (Link to news coverage in comments.)

If you read and share any of my interviews, this is the one. Having just completed the 13-year marathon of advancing our universal immunity platform into human clinical trials, I was able to sit down with Omri Amirav-Drory and Emma Betuel and reflect on the journey. We went over a wide ranging set of topics, including the history of the technology, the strategies for advancing to clinical for a biotech startup, leveraged decisions that made the difference, team building philosophy, and our plans for the future. Centivax being a clinical stage company is a key moment of metamorphosis for the company and the platform, but it’s also now just the beginning of a new journey. As our universal flu vaccine leaves the lab and is now in human trials, we look to the future with follow-on programs: an Alzheimer’s preventative, a cancer therapy, a malaria vaccine, and a universal antivenom. The breadth of the applications speaks to the power and generalizability of our universal immunity platform. Each has their own key strategic value to expand new verticals, relationships with philanthropy and pharma, and bring new classes of disruptive medicine to the world. Stay tuned - you will be hearing a lot from Centivax this year. https://lnkd.in/g_ZvkTim

Thirteen years in the making, I am immensely pleased and grateful to announce that our first universal vaccine, Centi-Flu 01, has entered human clinical trials. With this, Centivax becomes a clinical stage company, and the vision of a post-pandemic world and post-pathogen humanity one step closer to being realized. My congratulations and gratitude to the Centivax team, our investors and supporters that have made this step forward to universal immunity possible. Jerry Sadoff Sawsan Youssef Stephanie Wisner Nicholas Bayless Gusti Zeiner Atsuko Sakurai-Sangria Shawna Cote Sangil Kim David Tsao and the rest of the #Centivax team: congratulations on this accomplishment. Steve Jurvetson Omri Amirav-Drory Anastasia Budinskaya Helen McBride, Ph.D. Vidya Vasu-Devan Victor Olmos, PhD Elliot Hershberg David Beyer Charlie Petty Damien Soghoian Labeeb Abboud, Amol Jain, Dwip Ratan Mahajan David Zhu Vandon Duong - thank you to Future Ventures, NFX, GHIC, Base4, BOLD Capital, Amplify Bio, Kendall Capital Partners and others for making this possible and being our strategic and thought partners along the way. The vibes were immaculate. Thank you Gates Foundation CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) NIH, WRAIR, NMRC, MTEC and others for your support to advance the platform and the programs. Bill Gates - the Grand Challenge award and the GLIPH awards early on were critical for success here - thank you. Erwin Calgua MD MSCE Sarah Ives - how far this has come from those early pig studies in 2015. There are too many others to thank here and I’ve probably linked enough people for the algorithm anyway. Read out later this year: stay tuned. https://lnkd.in/gfj5tqhG