SINGAPORE, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hummingbird Bioscience, an innovative biotherapeutics company focused on the discovery and development of new breakthrough therapies, has closed an extended Series B funding round of US$25 million. This brings the total capital raised through financing activities and strategic partnerships to more than US$65 million to date.
Leading the Series B extension is new investor SK Holdings, with participation from existing shareholders including Heritas Capital and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.
The Series B round was extended to US$25 million due to significant over-subscription, with the addition of select quality and value-add investors. Hummingbird will use the new funds to accelerate development of new candidates into clinical trials and strengthen its scientific and research and development capabilities.
"We are delighted to have SK Holdings join our investor base. Hummingbird is building a strong portfolio of promising new therapies that we believe can deliver very meaningful benefit for patients across a broad spectrum of disease. These new funds give us further resources to develop our early stage pipeline, and support the clinical development of our lead programs," said Dr Piers Ingram, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Hummingbird Bioscience.
"Heritas Capital is pleased to continue our backing of the Hummingbird team since leading its Series A extended round," commented Chik Wai Chiew, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Heritas Capital Management. "Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a slow-down in investing, we are mindful that backing leading innovative biotech companies, especially players such as Hummingbird, to develop cures for addressing patients' needs remains our priority."
Earlier this year Hummingbird announced publication of positive data on its lead candidate, HMBD-001, a first-in-class HER3 antibody; and manufacturing of HMBD-002, a first-in-class VISTA antibody. Regulatory submissions to initiate Phase I studies for these two candidates are expected in the second half of 2020.
About Hummingbird Bioscience
Hummingbird Bioscience is on a mission to unravel the complexities of human disease and revolutionize treatment outcomes. Using systems biology to develop unparalleled insights into disease biology, Hummingbird applies computationally guided platforms to discover and engineer breakthrough biotherapeutics. This is a bold, new way of finding the right drugs for the right people.
Hummingbird is pursuing a broad pipeline of first and best-in-class drug candidates across multiple challenging targets with strong biological validation and disease association, including lead assets: HMBD-001, an anti-HER3 antibody, and HMBD-002, an anti-VISTA antibody, for the treatment of cancer. Hummingbird has established strategic collaborations with Cancer Research UK and Amgen, and has been awarded a product development grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
Hummingbird is located in Singapore, Houston, Texas and South San Francisco, California. To learn more about its science, pipeline assets, and team, please visit: www.hummingbirdbioscience.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter at @Hummingbirdbio.
About SK Holdings
As the integrated holding company of SK Group, SK Holdings continues to enhance its portfolio value by executing long-term strategic investments with a number of competitive subsidiaries in various business areas, including pharmaceuticals and life sciences, energy and chemicals, information and telecommunications, and semiconductors. In addition, SK Holdings is focused on reinforcing its growth foundations through practical management based on financial stability, while raising its enterprise value by investing in new future growth businesses. For more information, please visit https://hc.sk.co.kr/en/.
About Heritas Capital Management
Heritas is a Capital Markets Services ("CMS") licensed A/I (Accredited / Institutional) fund management company managing private equity, venture capital and fund-of-funds investments into healthcare, education, and technology globally. We are also proud to be a co-investment partner of SPRING SEEDS Capital, under the Startup SG Equity Scheme into leading healthcare start-ups in Singapore.
About SEEDS Capital
As the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital catalyses smart investments into innovative Singapore-based startups with strong intellectual content and global market potential. We co-invest with independent investors in innovative startups. We help our startups commercialize and expand globally through leveraging on the expertise and strategic networks of our co-investment partners in areas such as technology translation, commercialization and market expansion. Through co-investments, SEEDS Capital aims to catalyse investments into nascent and strategic sectors. These include Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering, Health & Biomedical Sciences, Urban Sustainability & Solutions, and Services & Digital Economy.
About Enterprise Singapore
Enterprise Singapore is the government agency championing enterprise development. We work with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalise.
We also support the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups, and build trust in Singapore's products and services through quality and standards.
Visit www.enterprisesg.gov.sg for more information.
