06.06.2022
LUCA Science (President & CEO: Rick C. Tsai, DMD, MD; headquarters: Tokyo, Japan) completed oversubscribed Series B financing with a total of 3.86B JPY (30.3M USD). Fast Track Initiative (hereinafter referred to as ‘FTI’) co-led this investment together with UK-based 4Bio Capital and Japan-based DCI Partners. New investors, Nissei Capital, Asahikasei Pharma, QB Capital, SMBC Venture Capital also joined the round along with existing investors, Remiges Ventures and NVCC.
The company is pioneering towards a new class of mitochondrial therapy to restore cellular bioenergetics in dysfunctional or damaged tissues and organs. The funds from this round will be used to accelerate the research and development of the company’s proprietary pipeline toward IND submission.
“We have assembled a world-class syndicate of investors both in Japan and internationally, who share our vision of creating a novel class of modality using mitochondria to address a range of unmet medical needs,” said Dr. Rick C. Tsai, Chief Executive Officer of LUCA Science. “This significant financing round will enable further investment in our CMC capabilities and help us accelerate our research and development activities to bring the possibility of mitochondria closer to patients. This marks a key moment for the company and moves us one step closer to our goal of becoming the world leader in mitochondria therapy.”
Tai Harada, Vice President at FTI, appointed as an external BoD of LUCA Science says, “LUCA Science is at the frontier of revolutionary medicine, untangling the complex biology of mitochondria while applying scientific rigor. Fast Track Initiative is proud to continually invest in LUCA Science, this time as a lead investor, and looks forward to ongoing support. We believe LUCA’s mitochondria therapy has significant potential to bring strong benefits to many patients with limited treatment options.”
LUCA Science’s news was shared on Endpoint news https://endpts.com/aiming-to-harness-the-power-of-mitochondria-a-japanese-startup-nets-new-funding/ and Biocentury https://www.biocentury.com/article/643829/luca-off-the-shelf-mitochondria-for-wide-ranging-applications. Both are globally influential media outlets covering top tier biotech and pharmaceutical company news. View the entire Biocentury news here.
View the official Press Release here: https://www.luca-science.com/news-release/post-4-8w5kh
About LUCA Science:
LUCA Science is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering towards a new class of mitochondrial therapy to restore cellular bioenergetics in dysfunctional or damaged tissues and organs. Mitochondria are the power plants in our cells that produce energy for our bodies. LUCA Science will use its platform technology to manufacture, store and deliver innovative mitochondrial drugs to research and development of therapeutics for unmet medical needs in a wide range of diseases for which there have been no effective treatments. For more information, go to https://www.luca-science.com/.
About Fast Track Initiative:
Established in 2004, Fast Track Initiative, Inc. (FTI) is a life science venture capital firm focusing its investments on grow seed and early-stage startups with a strong focus on biotech and therapeutics. FTI has a strict mission to make a ground-breaking impact on the quality of our life and human wellness through investments across a broad range of areas in the life science community including diagnostics, digital health, healthcare services, and more. The company provides full, hands-on operational support to its 30+ portfolio companies through business and R&D strategy, investor syndication, and more, including access to their exclusive network of leading industry professionals in Japan. Visit https://us.fasttrackinitiative.com for more details, or follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fast-track-initiative/. For press inquiries or investor inquiries, please email: message.us@fasttrackinitiative.com
