BioSpace is proud to present its NextGen Bio "Class of 2018," a list of 20 up-and-coming life science companies in North America that started up no earlier than 2015.
To come up with this Top 20, BioSpace sorted companies into that age grouping, and they were then weighted by a number of different categories and finally ranked in a cumulative fashion, based on the points awarded for each category. These categories were: Finance, Collaborations, Pipeline, Sales and Editorial (view methodology below).
The NextGen Bio Class of 2018 is a stellar group of companies that are already making an enormous impact on the industry now and will into the future.
1. BlueRock Therapeutics
Points: 37
Founded: 2016
Location: Cambridge, Mass. and Ontario, Canada
Notable:
• In December 2016, BlueRock launched with a $225 million Series A financing, led by Bayer AG and Versant Ventures.
• BlueRock focuses on gene therapies to regenerate heart muscle in patients who have had a heart attack or have chronic heart failure.
• BlueRock’s programs are in collaboration with Toronto-based McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine and University Health Network (UHN).
• The company has a strategic partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering, and a manufacturing platform partnership with Toronto-based CCRM.
• The overall approach is focused on iPSC intellectual property invented by Nobel Prize winner Sinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University (Japan) and licensed from iPS Academia Japan.
2. Prelude Fertility
Points: 29
Founded: 2016
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Notable:
• Prelude Fertility was founded with a $200 million investment by entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky; the company’s business model is aimed at in vitro fertilization and egg freezing.
• Started with an investment in the largest in vitro fertilization clinic in the Southeast, Reproductive Biology Associates of Atlanta, and its affiliate, My Egg Bank, the largest frozen donor egg back in the U.S.
3. Relay Therapeutics
Points: 16
Founded: 2016
Location: Cambridge, Mass.
Notable:
• Relay launched in September 2016 with a $57 million Series A financing, led by Third Rock Ventures with participation from D.E. Shaw Research.
• On Dec. 14, 2017, Relay closed on a Series B round worth $63 million. The round was led by BVF Partners, with new investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), Casdin Capital, EcoR1 Capital and Section 32. Existing investors Third Rock Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments participated.
• The company focuses on the relationship between protein motion and function.
4. Freenome
Points: 15
Founded: 2016
Location: South San Francisco, Calif.
Notable:
• Closed a $65 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz and joined by GV (Google Ventures), Polaris Partners, Charles River Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Spectrum 28, and Asset Management Ventures.Previous investors included Data Collective and Founders Fund.
• Is utilizing an Adaptive Genomics Engine (AGE) to evaluate genetic health and diagnoses based on cell-free DNA data in the blood for early detective of cancer and other diseases.
• Working with the University of California, San Francisco, Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health and Massachusetts General Hospital.
5. Cirius Therapeutics
Points: 12
Founded: 2016
Location: San Diego, Calif.
Notable:
• Formerly known as Octeta Therapeutics, launched with a $40 million Series A in April 2017. A previous $16 million was raised by Octeta.
• Company’s lead product is MSDC-0602K, a second-generation insulin sens...
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