Foundery, a San Francisco, CA-based biotechnology venture studio focused on translating immunology discoveries into drug candidates, announced an initial closing of its inaugural fund, Foundery I, LP, with total capital commitments and contributed assets as of the closing equal to $29.6m.
Limited Partners in Foundery Fund I include an established family office, a public research university endowment, and growth and impact-oriented high-net worth individuals.
Founded in 2021 by science-first industry leaders Max Krummel, Ph.D., Michel Streuli, Ph.D., and Venkataraman “Sriram”, Ph.D., Foundery seeks to validate early-stage immunotherapy programs in collaboration with university researchers and their institutions.
Foundery is committed to driving progress by actively collaborating with researchers and clinicians who are pioneering the future of immunotherapy. The Foundery Immune Studio, located adjacent to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Parnassus campus, empowers faculty to translate their scientific breakthroughs into impactful therapies via close collaboration with Foundery’s drug development team. Foundery’s master agreements with UCSF and the University of Arizona provide a streamlined path for principal investigators and Foundery to partner.
Foundery manages a fully functioning state-of-the-art lab and internal discovery team to evaluate and validate first-in-class drug target candidates and develops Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling drug packages that can be out-licensed or used as the foundation for venture creation.
Foundery Fund I currently has nine preclinical programs in its pipeline across autoimmunity, inflammation, and oncology therapeutic areas, including two early-stage “platform” programs that aim to tackle historically challenging therapeutic targets. Foundery anticipates initiating business development activities for its pre-IND drug development candidates as early as the second half of 2024.
The studio also announced today the initial members of its Business Advisory Committee which include Jeff Brody, MBA, Rekha Hemrajani, MBA (Board Member BioAge, MaxCyte and ALX Oncology), Forrest Metz, Ph.D. (Founder and Managing Director, Dev Equity), Wendy Petka, Ph.D., J.D. (Vice President of Intellectual Property, Horizon Therapeutics), and Saira Ramasastry, M.S., M.Phil. (Managing Partner, Life Sciences Advisory). Foundery’s advisors offer expertise and external review across venture investing, operations, M&A and business development activities.
FinSMEs
22/08/2023