Stem cell exosomes are small vesicles ranging from 30-100nm in size that are secreted by all stem cell types. They facilitate a range of important cellular functions. As the market for stem cell exosomes has emerged, a number of investment groups have made bets on this rapidly growing marketplace.
Venture Capital Supporting Exosome Diagnostics and Therapeutics
On the venture capital front, Exosome Diagnostics (www.exosomedx.com) raised nearly $80 million in financings from leading investors during its Series A and Series B rounds, including[1]:
- Forbion Capital Partner
- NGN Capital, Arcus Ventures
- Tiger Management
- Blue Ridge Capital
- QIAGEN
- CD Ventures
It is interesting to see Qiagen on the list of investors, because Exosome Diagnostics and QIAGEN N.V. signed a July 2013 partnership to “develop and commercialize high-performance, co-branded kit products for the capture and processing of RNA and DNA from biofluid exosomes and other microvesicles.”[2]
In January 2014, Exosome Diagnostics announced “expansion of their strategic collaboration with QIAGEN to develop non-invasive molecular diagnostics for use in detecting and monitoring actionable genetic mutations in lung cancer patients.”[3] This investment indicates that Exosome Diagnostics and Qiagen are not only product development partners, but that Qiagen is also a stakeholder in Exosome Diagnostics.
On July 24, 2017, Exosome Diagnostics then closed $30 million in Series C financing, led by insiders, Tiger Partners and Forbion Capital Partners, while Blue Ridge Capital, NGN Capital, Arcus Ventures, b-to-v Partners, CD Ventures and others participated in the round.[4]
Additionally, Codiak Biosciences was launched in late 2016 when the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center joined two venture capital firms (ARCH Venture Partners and Flagship Ventures) and co-founder Eric Lander, Ph.D, to launch the company with more than $80 million in Series A and B financing. Codiak is using the funding to aggressively purpose the development of exosomes for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes, with an emphasis on cancer-related applications.
Investors in Codiak’s initial $80+ million Series A and Series B funding syndicate included[5]:
- ARCH Venture Partners and Flagship Ventures (co-lead founding investors)
- Fidelity Management and Research Company
- Alaska Permanent Fund
- Alexandria Venture Investments
Flagship’s VentureLabs® innovation unit has worked since last 2015 to apply exosomes as a therapeutic platform, producing an intellectual property (IP) portfolio consisting of “patents held by one of its startups, VentureLabs Newco VL27—which merged into Codiak after acquiring exosome-related IP work of an advisor to the company, Jan Lotvall, M.D., Ph.D.”[6]
Finally, ExCoBio, Inc., announced in May 2017 that it had raised US $11 million in a Series A funding round within four months of its being founded, making it the “largest and fastest investment attraction in South Korea”.[7] The investment was secured from South Korean venture capital firms, including:
- SBI Investment
- Atinum Investment
- ID Ventures
- Dt&Investment
Since being founded in January 2017, ExoCoBio raised a total of US $13.5 million and is planning to establish research and development (R&D) and GMP facilities to commercialize exosome-based cosmeceuticals and biopharmaceuticals that utilize stem cell-derived exosomes.[8]
Clearly, investment firms are becoming increasingly interested in stem cell exosomes, making this an interesting market to watch.
To learn more, view the 134-page global strategic report, “The Market for Stem Cell Exosomes.”
[1] Exosomedx.com. (2017). Investors | Exosome Diagnostics. [online] Available at: http://www.exosomedx.com/investors [Accessed 28 Aug. 2017].
[2] Press Releases | Exosome Diagnostics. [online] Available at: http://www.exosomedx.com/news-events/press-releases/exosome-diagnostics-and-qiagen-partner-launch-comprehensive-line-biofluid [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
[3] Exosomedx.com. (2017). Press Releases | Exosome Diagnostics. [online] Available at: http://www.exosomedx.com/news-events/press-releases/exosome-diagnostics-and-qiagen-expand-collaboration-develop-non-invasive [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
[4] Exosome Diagnostics Completes $30 Million Series C Financing. [online] GlobeNewswire News Room. Available at: https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/07/24/1056075/0/en/Exosome-Diagnostics-Completes-30-Million-Series-C-Financing.html [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
[5] GEN. (2017). Exosome Startup Launched by MD Anderson, 2 VC Firms with $80M+ | GEN. [online] Available at: http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/exosome-startup-launched-by-md-anderson-2-vc-firms-with-80m/81251985 [Accessed 28 Aug. 2017].
[6] Ibid.
[7] ExoCoBio Inc. attracts Series A investment of US$11 million. [online] PRWeb. Available at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/04/prweb14284662.htm [Accessed 3 Sep. 2017].
[8] Ibid.