USA – QurAlis Corporation, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company focused on developing precision therapeutics for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurologic diseases, raised $42m in Series A financing.
The round, which brought total funds raised to date to $50.5m, was led by LS Polaris Innovation Fund, lead seed investor Mission BioCapital, INKEF Capital and the Dementia Discovery Fund, and co-led by Droia Ventures. Additional new investors included Mitsui Global Investment and Dolby Family Ventures, joined by investments from existing investors Amgen Ventures, MP Healthcare Venture Management, and Sanford Biosciences. In connection with the financing round, Amy Schulman, Managing Partner of the LS Polaris Innovation Fund; Roel Bulthuis, Managing Partner at INKEF Capital; Jonathan Behr, Ph.D., Partner at the Dementia Discovery Fund; and Luc Dochez, Managing Partner at DROIA Ventures, will be joining Johannes Fruehauf, M.D., Ph.D., General Partner at Mission BioCapital, on QurAlis’ Board. The company intends to use the funds for the development of new therapies for ALS and genetically related frontotemporal dementia (FTD), neurodegenerative diseases for which there is currently no cure. Led by Kasper Roet, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, QurAlis has a strategy to systematically investigate treatments targeting specific disease-causing mechanisms in patient sub-populations. The company evaluates a wide range of potential treatments through its system that utilizes lab-grown neuronal networks derived from cells of ALS patients. 13/05/2020
