Biotech Firm Revolutionizing Amino-Acid Manufacturing Closes $12 Million Series A Financing Round

 

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., October 29, 2024—Aralez Bio, a platform technology company with a proprietary enzymatic approach for designing and manufacturing noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs), announced the close of its oversubscribed $12 million Series A financing today.

 

The round was led by Spero Ventures with matched investment from Paladin Capital Group. Additional investors included Good Growth Capital, Astia Ventures, Heritage Medical Systems, Freeflow Ventures, Impact Science Ventures, Juniper, and Pineapple Group.

 

“Aralez Bio’s platform is expanding the amino acid toolbox 1000-fold, creating building blocks that drive next-generation products,” said Tina Boville, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Aralez Bio. “With the close of our Series A we are accelerating commercialization of our platform by establishing commercial scale biomanufacturing and expanding our portfolio of proprietary ncAAs.”

 

The Series A investment will be used to further develop Aralez Bio’s unparalleled collection of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) and industry-leading manufacturing capabilities. As part of this expansion, Aralez Bio will establish a manufacturing site with tons-per-year production capacity, enabling support for large commercial programs for clients that include top five global pharmaceutical companies.

 

Noncanonical amino acids are found in many high-value products on the market today, and their prevalence is only increasing. “ncAAs are building blocks in more than 10% of all pharmaceuticals, including GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro. Making ncAAs is challenging with traditional methods, which struggle with low yields and purities, and a high dependence on hazardous materials. Aralez Bio’s proprietary platform addresses these bottlenecks,” said David Romney, Ph.D, Aralez Bio’s Co-founder and CTO. The Series A investment will also be bolstered by a recent $17.5 million award to Aralez Bio and National Resilience Inc through the federal Defense Product Act, focused on creating new domestic supply chains for active ingredients, including ncAAs, used in essential medicines.

 

Using technology first developed at Caltech in the lab of Co-Founder and Nobel Laureate Prof. Frances Arnold, Aralez Bio designs and manufactures thousands of unique, high-quality ncAAs in a safe and environmentally benign process. There are opportunities for this technology to affect an array of other industries, including beauty, agriculture, and materials.

 

“Aralez Bio’s library has the power to transform what’s possible for drug discovery, bend the cost curve for manufacturing, and bring substantially greener methods to the industry as a whole. We could not be more excited to support Tina, David and the team in this leg of the journey,” said Sara Eshelman, Partner at Spero Ventures.

 

Paul Conley, Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group, said, “Aralez Bio has executed beautifully on converting Nobel Prize-winning science to best-in-class, industry-shaping products in a short time frame. Aralez’s products have been in-demand since the company’s inception and its revenue-generating partnerships with top pharma companies are a continued validation of the value of the technology.”

 

"We have believed since early on that Aralez could be the leader in this fast-growing market, producing ncAAs that have higher purity, at lower cost with less waste," said Maureen Boyce, Ph.D, Managing Partner at Good Growth Capital.

 

About Spero Ventures

Spero Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that invests in the things that make life worth living: wellbeing; sustainability; learning, work, and play.

We’re a team of former startup founders, operators, and investors from landmark companies including eBay, Tesla, and Stripe. We invest in determined founders building mission-driven technology companies. We are conviction-based investors who play the long game.

 

About Paladin Capital Group

Paladin Capital Group was founded in 2001 and has offices in Washington DC, New York, London, Luxembourg, and Silicon Valley. As a multi-stage investor, Paladin’s core strength is identifying, supporting and investing in innovative companies that develop promising, early-stage technologies to address the critical cyber and advanced technological needs of both commercial and government customers.

Combining proven investment experience with deep expertise in global security, cyber technology and cutting-edge research, Paladin has invested in more than 80 companies since 2008 and has been a trusted partner to investors, entrepreneurs and governments for over two decades. For more on Paladin Capital Group, follow us on Twitter at @Paladincap and on LinkedIn or visit us at www.paladincapgroup.com.

 

About Good Growth Capital

Good Growth Capital is a majority women-owned venture capital firm that invests in early stage life science, green tech, hard science, and data science companies. Good Growth is known for its world-leading expertise in technology commercialization, and for finding, funding and growing superior, defensible technology companies that fill pressing societal needs. Good Growth Capital and its funds meet both ESG and UNSDG impact goals.