Kineticos announced today the Kineticos Disruptor Fund, a new life sciences investment fund. The fund will invest in disruptive modalities including cell therapy approaches such as CAR Ts, TCRs, TILs, gene therapy, gene editing, RNAi, immuno-oncology, and related precision medicine technologies.
The Kineticos Disruptor Fund will focus on large, unmet medical needs in oncology, neurosciences and rare diseases. In oncology, new approaches to solid tumors and “off the shelf” allogeneic cell therapies are immediate priorities. Kineticos will support entrepreneur-scientists and the biotech community through Series A funding.
In addition to supporting existing biotechs, the Kineticos Disruptor Fund will work with technology partners, including leading universities and other research centers. In this venture creation model, Kineticos will in-license technologies and build teams from its extensive community of advisors to advance new platforms.
Kineticos’ Founder and CEO, Shailesh Maingi states: “Our core mission is to advance life science research by supporting biotech companies in their pursuit of new treatments for patients. Yet, today with the most difficult to treat diseases, such as cancer, advancement is measured in months of increased life expectancy. With the advent and success of new disruptive technologies in life sciences, we believe how medicine is practiced today is fundamentally changing. For the first time, rational scientists, physicians, and entrepreneurs talk about a cure for cancer.”
He continued, “With the launch of the Kineticos Disruptor Fund, we are able to support the biotech community from concept to commercialization. I am very excited to work with my investment partners Mark Bamforth (Founder, Arranta Bio and previous Founder, Brammer Bio), Derek Hennecke (Founder, Xcelience) and Abe Maingi (VP, Kineticos) and I know of no better way to advance science than through capitalism.”
Paul Garofolo, Founder and CEO of Locus Biosciences, commented: “From the early days when we incubated with Kineticos, their team has been an important ally for Locus to lean on as we advanced our crPhage platform. At each stage of our company’s growth they have helped advise our team on how to best position our assets and overall company strategy for that stage of the company’s evolution. Their business and scientific insights have proven invaluable.”
Dr. Amit Vohra, Founder and CEO of Promaxo: “Since the early days of Promaxo, Kineticos has been an important ally. They have consistently focused on our needs and helped us advance our innovative modular MRI platform. Kineticos business and scientific acumen has resonated with our team.”