NC-XILIS-INC
13.7.2022 14:02:12 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Xilis, Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company developing its MicroOrganoSphere™ (MOS™) technology to guide precision therapy for cancer patients and accelerate drug discovery and development, has closed an extension of over US$19 million to its Series A financing round, bringing the total amount raised to over US$89 million. New investor FPV Ventures led the extension, with participation from fellow new investor Alexandria Venture Investments and existing investors EQT Life Sciences, Mubadala Capital Management, Pear Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), the Duke Angel Network, Catalio Capital Management, Two Sigma Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Alix Ventures and other strategic partners.
“Despite unprecedented market conditions in the biotech sector, we raised this extension at a step-up valuation and from several of the most reputable global investors. Our investors are strongly encouraged by the progress we have made in building diagnostic programs that predict patient response and achieving significant traction in partnered drug discovery and development,” said Xiling Shen, PhD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xilis. “Our MOS technology is the first end-to-end, high-throughput patient-derived model drug discovery platform to identify drug candidates with a high probability of clinical success.”
The company will use the Series A funding to advance its proprietary MOS platform. This innovative MOS technology is the first truly scalable patient-derived model that recapitulates the tumor microenvironment and immune interactions necessary for next-generation immuno-oncology and cell therapy drug discovery. In addition, the MOS platform can be applied in a clinical setting to aid clinicians to make precision oncology treatment decisions, identifying treatments that lead to the best response for each patient.
“Xilis has pushed forward and achieved meaningful scientific breakthroughs that will change the way cancer drugs are being discovered and how patients are being selected to achieve the most optimal response – realizing the goal of personalized precision oncology,” said Wesley Chan, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of FPV Ventures. “With support from a world-class investor consortium, Xilis is set to continue its efforts in clinical diagnostics and accelerate the company’s growth by expanding its MOS technology into biopharma R&D and drug development.”
Recently, the company announced its participation in the Netherlands-based Oncode-PACT Consortium to accelerate the development of cancer drugs and was selected as the cover article/story in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell highlighting its MOS technology and application in precision oncology.
"Xilis' innovative MOS technology can enable unlocking the full potential of patient-derived microtumors by accelerating their use both in the clinic and for drug discovery and development," said John de Koning, Partner at EQT Life Sciences. "Patients will benefit greatly from Xilis’ precision oncology treatment decisions by avoiding time spent on treatment cycles that are ineffective, and instead, receive therapies with the greatest potential of success quickly and efficiently."
About Xilis
Based in Durham, North Carolina, Xilis, Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a precision oncology platform that guides treatment decisions for oncologists to improve cancer care outcomes for patients and enables drug discovery and development with pharmaceutical companies. Xilis’ proprietary MicroOrganoSphere™ (MOS) technology consists of miniature patient tumors that capture the full microenvironment and heterogeneity and provides an automated and scalable solution. Using MOS and AI-driven algorithms, Xilis is developing a Xilis Response Score™ for the clinic, enabling oncologists to make informed and timely treatment decisions. Additionally, the MOS technology is speeding up the discovery and clinical development of new drug candidates.
To learn more about Xilis, visit our website at Xilis.com or follow us on LinkedIn .
About FPV
FPV is a new $450m fund focused on backing and serving mission-driven founders throughout their entire journey. Founded by Wesley Chan (Founder of Google Analytics and Google Voice) and Pegah Ebrahimi (former COO of Morgan Stanley Tech Banking and COO of Cisco Collaboration), the firm has backed well-known, high-impact startups including Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, Xilis, and Manifold Bio.
About EQT Life Sciences
EQT Life Sciences was formed in 2022 following an integration of LSP, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, into the EQT platform. As LSP, the firm raised over EUR 3.0 billion (USD 3.5 billion) and supported the growth of more than 150 companies since it started to invest over 30 years ago. With a dedicated team of highly experienced investment professionals, coming from backgrounds in medicine, science, business, and finance, EQT Life Sciences backs the smartest inventors who have ideas that could truly make a difference for patients.
The team combines deep sector knowledge, analytical skills, and investment experience to provide the added value that inventors seek. EQT Life Sciences’ broad life sciences and healthcare network is highly complementary to EQT’s global healthcare sector franchise and makes EQT an even better and more innovative healthcare investor. More info: www.eqtgroup.com/lifesciences
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220713005121/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Yubico Appoints Poupak Modirassari Enbom as Chief Marketing Officer to Accelerate Global Momentum and Drive Market Leadership30.3.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Yubico (NASDAQ STOCKHOLM: YUBICO), the creator of the most secure passkeys and a leading provider of hardware authentication security keys, today announced the appointment of Poupak Enbom as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330278027/en/ Enbom joins Yubico at a pivotal moment as organizations worldwide accelerate the shift to phishing-resistant authentication and modern identity security in the age of AI. “We’re excited to welcome Poupak to Yubico,” said Jerrod Chong, acting chief executive officer, Yubico. “As the threat landscape evolves with AI-driven attacks and increasing automation, organizations are rethinking how they secure digital identities of both humans and AI agents at scale. She brings a unique combination of technical depth, global leadership, and customer-first mindset that will help us continue to expand our impact and support our customers and partners around
Westinghouse Celebrates Record-breaking 80 Years of Nuclear Fuel Manufacture at Springfields30.3.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release
Fuel manufactured at Springfields has generated enough energy to supply the UK’s electricity demand for 26 years, avoiding the emission of nearly 3 billion tonnes of CO2 The Westinghouse Springfields facility in Lancashire, UK, has marked a significant milestone as the oldest continuous nuclear fuel manufacturing site in the world, starting from its original license on the 28th, March 1946. The site was chosen by the UK Government to develop nuclear fuel for the world’s earliest civil nuclear power stations, as well as subsequent Magnox and Advanced Gas Reactors (AGR) reactors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330135973/en/ From left to right: Sophie Lemaire; Marc Chevrel; Rory O'Neill; Craig Boothby; and Robert Gofton, CEO at Nuclear Institute Across the last eight decades, the Springfields site has supported the UK nuclear fleet, manufacturing more than eight million AGR pins, sintering and pressing over 5
HistoSonics Treats First Patients Evaluating the Edison® Histotripsy System for the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)30.3.2026 14:00:00 CEST | Press release
HistoSonics, the developer of the Edison® Histotripsy System and novel histotripsy therapy platform, today announced the successful treatments of the first patients in WOLVERINE, a prospective feasibility trial evaluating the Edison® Histotripsy System for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) at Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, a teaching hospital for The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Edison System is a novel, non-invasive, image guided platform that uses the mechanical properties of focused ultrasound, called histotripsy, to destroy unwanted tissue without the need for invasive procedures, and with potentially fewer side effects than traditional, invasive therapies. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260330349844/en/ HistoSonics Non-Invasive Edison Histotripsy System. Image credit: HistoSonics WOLVERINE is a prospective, multi-center, single-arm feasibility trial designed to evaluate
Biocytogen Grants Taisho Pharmaceutical a License to its RenNano® Fully Human Heavy Chain-Only Antibody Discovery Platform30.3.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (Biocytogen, SSE: 688796; HKEX: 02315), a global biotechnology company that drives the research and development of novel antibody-based drugs with innovative technologies, today announced that it has entered into a platform license agreement with Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Taisho”), granting Taisho the right to access and use Biocytogen’s proprietary RenNano® fully human heavy chain-only antibody (HCAbs) discovery platform for its internal research and development programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Taisho will leverage RenNano® mice to enable the generation and screening of fully human HCAbs in vivo and to support downstream research associated with antibody discovery. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. “We are very pleased to enter into this collaboration with Taisho,” said Dr. Yuelei Shen, President and CEO of Biocytogen. “RenNano® is a robust and powerful fully human VHH discovery platform that pro
Meiji Seika Pharma Invests in Centivax to Develop Next Generation Universal Vaccine Platform30.3.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Toshiaki Nagasato) today announced a strategic investment in Centivax, Inc. (Head Office: South San Francisco, CA, USA), a biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines and therapies for universal protection against highly diverse targets. Centivax’s lead program includes a universal seasonal influenza vaccine (Centi-Flu 01) currently in a Phase 1 clinical study. Unlike conventional seasonal flu vaccines, which must be manufactured annually based on recommended candidate vaccine viruses, Centivax’s platform focuses both antibody and cellular immune responses on conserved regions of the influenza virus that cannot mutate and are shared across strains and distant subtypes. This approach aims to generate broad, consistent, and durable immunity against both seasonal and pandemic influenza. Meiji’s strategic investment aims to accelerate the advancement of Centi-Flu 01 and further a
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom