With the help of a pair of corporate venture arms, San Francisco-based Sutro Biopharma raised $36.5 million for its Series C. That money is earmarked for the further development of the biotech's protein drug development platform, which is being built to provide in-house pipeline prospects as well as new fodder for development pacts with other drug companies.
Skyline Ventures led the round, which will be delivered in two tranches. The first tranche of $20 million closed on November 5. New investors Lilly Ventures and Amgen Ventures stepped up to the table to contribute to the round, which also includes SV Life Sciences and Alta Partners. Sutro has now raised close to $60 million.
"The financing provides us with sufficient capital to drive our own programs to the clinic and to support our collaborative relationships, which focus on therapeutic proteins that have been inaccessible until now," said CEO William Newell. Sutro's technology boasts of an ability to rapidly assess protein drug variants in search of new therapeutic candidates that can be swiftly and efficiently produced in commercial quantities.
- here's the Sutro release