STAT+: Gene-editing startup launches with $230 million and a Chinese licensing deal
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- Serapha Bio launched Tuesday with $230 million in total funding to develop a one-and-done gene-editing treatment for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (AATD), a liver and lung disease.
- RA Capital and RTW Investments arranged $138 million in Series A funding for Serapha and serve as founding investors, according to STAT.
- Serapha secured an additional $92 million tied to a reverse merger with Boundless Bio, a 2019-launched biotech that had studied extrachromosomal DNA's role in cancer growth but ran into trouble with its lead program.
- Serapha also negotiated a licensing deal with a Chinese drug company, though the source provides no partner name or deal terms.
- Boundless Bio, the merger partner, launched in 2019 focused on extrachromosomal DNA in cancer but saw its lead program falter, effectively providing Serapha with a public-company vehicle.
Why it matters: Serapha's $230M round gives gene editing in AATD—a disease with a clear single-gene cause—a sizable new entrant. The $92M portion came from a reverse merger into Boundless Bio, a cancer biotech whose lead program failed, giving Serapha a backdoor to public-company capital that traditional Series A routes wouldn't provide. RA Capital and RTW are the founding backers betting on the AATD opportunity.
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