Engrail Therapeutics, a biotech startup led by Vikram Sudarsan, former executive of Indian pharmaceutical major Cipla, has secured $157 million (Rs 1300 crore) in its Series B round of funding, co-led by healthcare-focused venture capital firms F-Prime Capital, Forbion, and growth equity investor Norwest Venture Partners.
Investors such as Eight Roads Ventures, RiverVest Venture Partners, Red Tree Venture Capital, funds managed by abrdn Inc., Ysios Capital, Longwood Fund, and existing founding investor Pivotal Life Sciences also participated in the round.
The company plans to use the funds to support its pipeline of products and therapies to treat neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases.
“With strong financial backing from highly sophisticated and dedicated life science investors, we are well positioned to deliver multiple value-creating milestones,” said Sudarsan, president and chief executive of Engrail Therapeutics.
Sudarsan previously was the CEO of Cipla Technologies, where he built a pipeline of branded products to treat CNS disorders and respiratory diseases. He has also led strategy at Cipla New Ventures. He has served on the Boards of Stempeutics, Chase Pharmaceuticals, Cipla Technologies, and Cipla USA.
“We look forward to completing our ongoing study in generalised anxiety disorder and advancing the rest of our pipeline into clinical development,” he said.
Engrail, co-founded by Sudarsan and Stephen Cunningham, is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, developing therapies for anxiety disorders, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and rare neurodegenerative diseases.
The capital infusion comes about two-and-a-half years after Engrail closed its Series A round, raising $64 million in August 2021. In total, the California-headquartered company has raised over $220 million in capital.
Following the latest round, Stacie Weninger of F-Prime, Jasper Bos of Forbion, Tiba
Aynechi of Norwest, Niall O’Donnell of RiverVest, and Heath Lukatch of Red Tree joined the Engrail’s board of directors.