Drug delivery robots company Bionaut Labs today announced the completion of a $43.2 million Series B financing round led by Khosla Ventures with participation from new investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, What if Ventures, Tintah Grace and Gaingels. Existing investors Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolution VC, and Compound also took part in the round, bringing the total financing raised by the company to date to $63.2 million
Bionaut Labs is developing microscale drug delivery robots to transform treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases and disorders. Through magnetic propulsion, Bionauts can navigate deep into the human body to deliver drugs locally, generating efficacy and avoiding side effects and toxicity from systemically delivered drugs. By reaching the midbrain safely through novel routes, Bionaut Labs aims to develop solutions to treat the most debilitating conditions including Parkinson’s disease and Huntington's disease, malignant glioma and hydrocephalus.
The funds raised will be used to advance clinical development of the company’s lead programs against malignant glioma brain tumors and Dandy-Walker Syndrome (a rare pediatric neurological disorder). Funds will also support development of the company's proprietary Bionaut treatment platform.
Bionaut Labs is co-founded by robotics entrepreneurs, CEO Michael Shpigelmacher and executive chairman Aviad Maizels, who previously co-founded Tel Aviv-based PrimeSense, which developed the facial recognition technology behind iPhone’s FaceID and was sold to Apple in 2013 for $400 million. Alex Shpunt is also a cofounder and the company's leadership team consists of experts across robotics, neuroscience, biology and drug development. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Bionaut Labs has R&D centers in Israel and Germany.
Shpigelmacher said, "There has been a dearth of innovation around treatments for conditions that cause tremendous suffering, in large part because past failures have discouraged even the best of researchers. Bionaut Labs remains committed to finding new ways to treat these devastating diseases, which are long overdue for a breakthrough."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 28, 2022.
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