Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs
Umoja Biopharma CEO Andy Scharenberg. (Umoja Photo)
Another Seattle-area health startup is raising a big new round of funding.
Umoja Biopharma announced a $100 million Series C round that will help the Seattle-based company further develop its CAR T-cell immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Umoja is developing a multi-pronged technology that retools a patient’s immune system in vivo, or within a living organism, to generate cancer-fighting cells inside the body.
The company launched in 2019 and is working to commercialize technology developed at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Purdue University. Its headquarters are in Seattle, and it has a manufacturing operations site in Colorado.
Umoja has several internal programs at the preclinical stage, and one (UB-TT170) in Phase 1 trials, according to its website.
Umoja previously raised $210 million in 2021 and $53 million in 2020.
Umoja CEO Dr. Andy Scharenberg previously co-founded Pregenen and Generation Bio, and is a professor of pediatrics and immunology at the University of Washington. Scharenberg is also a principal investigator at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“We are pleased to announce the closing of our Series C financing with tremendous support from both new and existing investors who recognize Umoja’s potential to develop the industry’s first in vivo CAR T cell generating therapies — all in the hopes of increasing effectiveness, reducing barriers, and expanding access to CAR T cell therapies,” Scharenberg said in a statement.
Double Point Ventures and DCVC Bio co-led the Series C round. Other investors include ARK Invest, Cormorant Asset Management, MPM Capital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, RTW Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, CaaS Capital, Emerson Collective Investments managed by Yosemite, K2 HealthVentures, Myeloma Investment Fund, University of Minnesota Endowment, and other prominent life science investors.
Seattle-based health data platform Truveta announced a $320 million round on Monday, while biotech startup Tune Therapeutics announced a $175 million round on Sunday.
