HiFiBiO Therapeutics (Cambridge, Mass.) raised a $37.5 million oversubscribed series B round led by Sequoia China and Lyfe Capital. Fellow new investors Legend Star Capital and Proxima Ventures and existing investors VI Ventures and Nest Bio Ventures also participated.
The cancer and autoimmune company's CelliGo platform analyzes the full repertoire of B cells a person generates in response to an antigen in order to screen antibodies for functional activity. It aims to improve the odds of finding a viable therapeutic by rapidly producing large, genetically diverse sets of functional antibodies (see BioCentury Innovations, May 19, 2016).
HiFiBiO partnered with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) in 2014 to validate the platform. Under the deal, Pfizer received access to CelliGo to identify antibodies against undisclosed targets.
In 2015, HiFiBiO partnered with the Janssen Biotech Inc. unit of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to evaluate the platform using targets selected by J&J.
HiFiBio operates labs in Cambridge and Hangzhou, China.