Cell Therapy Company SQZ Biotechnologies Completes $72M Series C Financing

SQZ BiotechnologiesSQZ Biotechnologies, a Watertown, Mass.-based cell therapy company developing novel treatments for multiple therapeutic areas, completed a $72m Series C financing.

New investors included Everblue, Illumina Ventures, Invus, Orient Life, and Viva Ventures Biotech Group. Existing investors included Bridger Healthcare Partners, Global Health Science Fund, GV, JDRF T1D Fund, NanoDimension, and Polaris. In association with the financing, Marc Elia, Partner at Bridger Healthcare, and Zafi Avnur, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Quark Venture (Global Health Science Fund) have joined SQZ’s board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to bring its programs in solid tumors and autoimmune diseases to the clinic.

Led by Armon Sharei, PhD, co-founder and CEO, SQZ has developed a cell therapy platform which directly engineers complex cell functions without affecting cell health, with a simple and scalable process.
The therapeutic platform can bring cell therapies into indications where new and innovative treatments are needed the most.

Proceeds from the financing support SQZ’s most advanced programs in solid tumors and auto-immunity. The company’s lead program in antigen presenting cells (APCs) for oncology will have its first application in multiple HPV+ tumor indications; future applications will address solid tumors across cancer types.

FinSMEs

08/08/2018

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