On December 2, 2021 Acepodia, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class cell therapies with its unique Antibody-Cell Conjugation (ACC) platform technology to address gaps in cancer care, reported the closing of a $109 million Series C financing round led by Digital Mobile Venture and other new and existing investors (Press release, Acepodia, DEC 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234596391]). The funds will be used to further validate the company’s ACC technology and advance its pipeline of antibody cell effector (ACE) therapies for patients with cancer with limited treatment options. Concurrent with the financing, Samuel Chen, Director at Digital Mobile Venture, will join the Acepodia Board of Directors. Mr. Chen is also the largest shareholder of Polaris Pharmaceuticals.
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"This significant capital raise paves the way for us to deliver on our mission of bringing innovative, effective and affordable cell therapies to the broadest possible population of cancer patients," said Patrick Y. Yang, Ph.D., chairman and co-founder of Acepodia.
Acepodia has raised $166 million to date in venture capital financing, including a $47 million Series B round completed in March 2021. Investors have included Ridgeback Capital Investments, 8VC, DEFTA Partners, CDIB Capital Healthcare, Maxpro, E-Sun Venture, BioEngine Venture, Samuel Chen, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, and Foxconn founder Terry Gou.
"We are pleased by the strong support and confidence of our investors as we initiate additional research and development programs and continue our clinical trial expansion in the U.S. in the coming years," said Sonny Hsiao, Ph.D., chief executive officer, president and co-founder of Acepodia. "We are also honored to welcome visionary technology investor Samuel Chen to our board of directors, who shares our mission of building a next-generation platform of cell therapies for cancers with high unmet needs."
Acepodia is developing a first-in-class pipeline of ACE therapies that use its ACC technology to link tumor-targeting antibodies to immune cells, such as natural killer (NK) cells or gamma delta T cells. Unlike CAR-based cell therapies that require viral vector-delivered gene transductions or genetic engineering, this technology combines the precision of targeted monoclonal antibodies and cancer-killing immune cells into a potent cell therapy.