High-Tech Drug Discovery Startup Kallyope Bags $21M in Funding

Kallyope, a biotechnology company whose platform helps identify therapeutic opportunities involving the gut-brain axis, announced today a $21 million expansion on its previous Series B financing, bringing the total to $87 million.

The latest funding was led by Bill Gates, the legendary brain behind Microsoft.

“This additional infusion of capital will enable us to maximize the value of our platform and more rapidly advance our programs,” Nancy Thornberry, CEO of Kallyope.

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In February, Kallyope announced $66 million in Series B financing — the first of the round’s two waves — to advance its efforts. Investors included Lux Capital, The Column Group, Polaris Partners, Illumina Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, who helped found Kallyope, along with new investors Euclidean Capital and Two Sigma Ventures.

The gut-brain axis is the bi-directional communication system between the gut and the brain. According to the release, Kallyope developed a platform that enables the systematic approach to targeting gut-brain circuits with small molecules and has initiated multiple programs spanning metabolic, central nervous system and gastrointestinal disorders.

Kallyope aims to produce transformational therapeutics to improve human health by coupling their knowledge of deep drug discovery with their technologies, computational, cellular and molecular biology and human genetics.

“Kallyope has developed a unique platform that includes single-cell sequencing, computational biology, optogenetics, chemogenetics and circuit mapping technologies,” Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., Kallyope founder and board member, said.

The company was launched in December 2015 following a $44 million Series A financing by the aforementioned founding investors and Tony Evnin, Ph.D.

Kallyope has raised $131 million since its launch.

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