Swiss-Newton biotech lands $130M in tough VC environment
As venture funding becomes concentrated in fewer, larger rounds, a biotech with operations in Newton has secured a significant $130 million Series B financing with Novo Holdings as a lead investor.
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GlycoEra raises $130M, riding interest in protein degraders
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter. A biotechnology startup developing drugs designed to eliminate troublesome proteins found outside of cells has raised $130 million to start its first clinical trial. The startup, GlycoEra, will use the Series B funds to generate initial clinical data for its lead program, an immune disease treatment dubbed GE8820. It intends to bring a second immune drug into human testing as well. GlycoEra views GE8820 as having the type of broad potential that could make it a 'pipeline in a product,' said company president and CEO Ganesh Kaundinya. The drug targets IgG4, a circulating antibody that can be protective against allergies, but malfunctions and attacks the body's own tissues in many autoimmune conditions, among them the skin disorder pemphigus and the kidney condition primary membranous nephropathy. GE8820 is a dual-acting drug that coaxes the body into destroying this defective IgG4. One part of the molecule binds to the antibody and drags it to the liver. The other part then latches onto a receptor that absorbs IgG4 into cells, where it's trashed by an internal protein-disposal system. According to GlycoEra, preclinical testing has shown the approach can remove malfunctioning IgG4 antibodies with the type of precision not seen with other approaches. By doing so, GE8820 may avoid the broadly immunosuppressive effects of other autoimmune medicines. It may also ease the 'burden on the healthcare system,' Kaundinya said. Patients typically 'get treated, they get better, they are fine, and then they come back to that relapse,' Kaundinya said. 'Our approach not only enables the patients to live better lives, it also overall contributes to better healthcare economics across the board.' GlycoEra has publicly disclosed three other programs behind GE8820, but hasn't specified which diseases they're targeting. The company could submit a request to begin trials for its second drug in 2026, according to its website. Novo Holdings led GlycoEra's Series B round, which involved the venture arms of Roche and Bristol Myers Squibb, Sofinnova Partners and several other firms. 'What really stood out with GlycoEra is that you had a use case here where, in autoimmune disease, there's limited competition, a high amount of medical need and the biological rationale is really strong,' said Novo Holdings partner Max Klement. 'As we see the autoimmune disease space evolve, precision medicine makers such as GlycoEra are going to come to the forefront.' GlycoEra is named after glycosylation, the process by which sugar chains are attached to proteins. The company is headquartered in Wädenswil, Switzerland and has a U.S. footprint in Newton, Massachusetts. It was spun out of Swiss biotech LimmaTech Biologics in January 2021, and raised approximately $49 million in Series A funding that November. The company's latest round is further evidence of continued interest in so-called protein degraders, which offer a way of getting to proteins traditional drugmaking methods can't reach. Research into protein degradation has taken off since the turn of the century, yielding an array of companies using different methods to destroy harmful proteins. Many of these companies are focused on protein targets inside of cells. GlycoEra is among those zeroing in on so-called extracellular proteins outside of cells or on their membranes. Fellow startups EpiBiologics and Lycia Therapeutics are as well. Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Journals
3 days ago
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Swiss-Newton biotech lands $130M in tough VC environment
As venture funding becomes concentrated in fewer, larger rounds, a biotech with operations in Newton has secured a significant $130 million Series B financing with Novo Holdings as a lead investor.
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BMW Begins Solid-State Battery EV Testing
Solid-state batteries are considered the inevitable future of EVs, but bringing them to market is slow work. One of Germany's most popular automakers is no stranger to putting in the legwork, as the i7 M70 you see before you is sporting batteries that have been in development since at least 2016. The automaker plans to road test the vehicle extensively on the streets of Munich. View the 3 images of this gallery on the original article Let's start with the how. Back in 2016, BMW began cooperating with battery manufacturing company Solid Power. In mid-2021, that commitment escalated, with the Bavarians (along with Ford) formally investing in Solid Power's Series B funding. At the end of 2022, the two grew even closer, as BMW kicked off a cell prototype production line with Solid Power's insight. Today, we feast our eyes on the result: a BMW i7 M70 fitted with solid-state batteries that were reportedly developed via the partnership. Interestingly, the solid-state batteries here have more in common with the EVs BMW currently sells, rather than the upcoming Neue Klasse (NK) models. NK vehicles rely on cylindrical cells that are more tightly packed with no modules, whereas current BMW EVs use a prismatic design with modules. BMW calls this fifth-generation technology 'proven,' which is likely the reason it opted to use it over the much newer sixth-generation batteries. BMW says the i7 tester will hopefully give insight into two main areas: how to manage cell expansion as well as temperature and pressure conditioning. The advantages of solid-state batteries are significant. They offer higher energy density and lower overall weight than the batteries in use today. That translates to better range and performance. Solid-state batteries are also more resistant to extreme temperatures, making them less of a fire risk and, at an even more basic level, improving perceived resiliency on the customer side. The biggest current downside is cost. The automaker quipped back in February that solid-state tech is simply too expensive to roll out, claiming customers wouldn't be willing to shell out the extra coin needed to make solid-state batteries a reality. At least, not for now. Around the same time, rival Mercedes-Benz said it was 'close' to putting solid-state batteries into production. Similarly, the Affalterbach-based automaker is testing an EQS fitted with 'semi-solid-state batteries.' Solid-state batteries may be the future, but there's still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to traditional lithium-ion tech. Look no further than BMW's own Neue Klasse cars, which are projected to offer as much as 500 miles of range or more on a full charge. Ultimately, it's unlikely we'll see a production-ready car powered by a solid-state battery this decade. After all, those product roadmaps have largely already been written. But with some manufacturers clearly looking to the future, it's reasonable to expect this niche to naturally evolve in the next ten years. Expect a low-batch or super-lux vehicle to pilot the tech at a high price, followed by a slow trickle down. Whether or not Mercedes will beat BMW to the punch is anyone's guess. BMW Begins Solid-State Battery EV Testing first appeared on Autoblog on May 21, 2025
