InterVenn Biosciences Raises $34M For Ovarian Cancer, Immuno-oncology Therapies

InterVenn Biosciences raised $34 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding to ready a first-of-its-kind High-Throughput-Glycoproteomic powered diagnostic tool, targeting ovarian cancer, for clinical use by early next year.

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The South San Francisco-based company is using artificial intelligence and mass spectrometry to develop precision medicine capabilities, focusing on the role of protein glycosylation (the addition of a carbohydrate moiety to a protein molecule) to find treatments for ovarian, pancreatic, liver, prostate and kidney cancers.

Although InterVenn is only 3 years old, the science behind the company was discovered decades ago. The company’s goal is to match people with drugs in a way that not only finds the best one, but also reduces the cost of the therapy, which in some cases can run in the thousands of dollars per dose.

“We are just speeding up what they have been doing,” InterVenn CEO Aldo Carrascoso told Crunchbase News. “We already have over 2,000 indications.”

New investor Anzu Partners led the round and was joined by Genoa Ventures, Amplify Partners, True Ventures, Xeraya Capital and the Ojjeh Family. Including the new investment, InterVenn has raised a total of $43 million, including a $9.4 million Series A round in  2018, according to Crunchbase data.

In addition to the investment, David Michael, managing partner of Anzu Partners, will join InterVenn’s board.

“InterVenn enables a powerful new class of cancer diagnostics based on glycobiology,” said Michael in a written statement. “Advances in computation and chemistry will enable its unique, high throughput platform to have a dramatic positive impact on human health.”

The funds will be used to commercialize the diagnostic tool for ovarian cancer, increase partnerships and to accelerate development efforts for the company’s immuno-oncology treatment response and colorectal cancer indications. To facilitate that growth, InterVenn brought on former Illumina executive John Leite as chief business officer.

Next up, the company will be finalizing its diagnostic tool to go into the clinic next year after identifying both U.S. and overseas clinics that are interested, as well as continue investing in the platform.

Illustration: Dom Guzman