This week's biotech highlights
Cytotheryx Secures Lead Investor for $60M Series A; Confirms Debt Financing to Expand Facilities
Jan 12, 2026, 08:00 ET
Cytotheryx's Series A financing, alongside strategic debt funding, will advance its cell therapy programs toward clinical development and support GMP manufacturing scale-up.
ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytotheryx, Inc. , a preclinical cell therapy company developing cell-based treatments for liver disease, today announced a lead term sheet from Ouroboros Family Founders Fund I, LP for its $60 million Series A financing, positioning the Company to advance multiple programs into the clinic. In parallel, Cytotheryx secured additional debt financing from QRS Investments, LLC to expand its real estate footprint, enable GMP manufacturing capacity and support continued operational scale-up.
These financings highlight the durability and increasing relevance of next-generation cell therapy platforms despite a challenging biotech investment environment. Cytotheryx's differentiated platformaddresses a substantial unmet need in acute, chronic, and rare liver diseases by delivering a scalable supply of clinically relevant, fully functional human hepatocytes, or liver cells, and leveraging those cells across multiple therapeutic applications.
"Securing a lead Series A term sheet alongside complementary debt financing represents a pivotal milestone for Cytotheryx," said Dr. John Swart, Chief Executive Officer. "This financing positions us to accelerate multiple programs into the clinic and underscores strong investor confidence in our cell therapy platform and its potential to meaningfully advance the treatment paradigm for liver disease."
Cytotheryx's technology portfolio spans a proprietary bio-incubator platform for scalable liver cell production, a bioartificial liver support system for the treatment of acute liver failure, and a universal liver cell therapy designed for transplantation in patients with rare genetic and chronic liver diseases. Together, these technologies position Cytotheryx as a leader in liver cell therapy innovation and underscore its potential to deliver transformative therapies to patients worldwide.
To learn more, the Company will present at the Biotech Showcase during JPM Week in San Francisco on Monday, January 12, at 2:30 p.m. PST.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Cytotheryx's financing, development plans, and anticipated advancement of its cell therapy programs. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. No undue reliance should be placed on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release.
About Cytotheryx
Cytotheryx, Inc. is a preclinical cell therapy company leveraging proprietary technology to address acute, chronic, and rare genetic liver diseases. A Mayo Clinic spinout, Cytotheryx has developed a differentiated platform that enables the scalable production of clinically relevant, fully functional primary human hepatocytes for therapeutic use.
—> Though chronic/rare liver disease may not be one of the most pressing health issues of our time, this startup sparks my interest because of its “bioartificial liver support system” — basically the production and cultivation of liver cells that cure the disease in question through transplantation. As I have learnt during my studies, most diseases begin at the cellular level. Cell cycles go wrong, proteins are misfolded, proliferation goes out of control, the list goes on. The idea of transplanting healthy cells that have been “manufactured” in labs into a sick patient excites me.
Proxima Raises $80 Million Led by DCVC to Power the Next Generation of Proximity-Based Medicines
NEW YORK & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Proxima (formerly VantAI), the AI-native biotech company pioneering the next generation of AI-driven drug discovery for proximity therapeutics, today announced an oversubscribed $80M seed financing. The round was led by DCVC, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Braidwell, Roivant, AIX Ventures, Yosemite, Magnetic Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Modi Ventures, and additional strategic and institutional investors.
As part of the financing, the company has rebranded from VantAI to Proxima to reflect its singular focus on building out both the technology and data layer needed to unlock proximity-based therapeutics. These next generation medicines work by controlling how proteins interact with one another, rather than simply inhibiting or activating a single target, and represent a superset that includes modalities such as molecular glues and PROTACs that have the potential to unlock historically undruggable disease targets.
The new funding will accelerate the advancement of first-in-class proximity-modulating therapeutics, expanding the druggable target space and enabling more reliable discovery of novel mechanisms across oncology, immunology, and other disease areas.
“Proximity-based medicines represent one of the most powerful new ways to treat disease, but progress has been constrained by a lack of structural data and accurate design tools,” said Zachary Carpenter, Co-Founder and CEO, Proxima. “By combining proteome-scale structural data with frontier AI models, we’re building the foundation needed to make these therapies broadly accessible rather than rare exceptions.”
Every biological process, both in health and disease, is mediated by protein-protein interactions, yet fewer than 5% of these interactions have been structurally characterized, leaving the vast majority of the human interactome unexplored. This uncharted territory represents one of the largest frontier opportunities in drug discovery, particularly for targets that have been historically challenging or entirely out of reach. Proxima’s mission is to comprehensively map this space, building the data foundation needed to unlock generalized rational design for all proximity-based medicines, both the waves of today such as molecular glues and PROTACs, but also the many emerging waves of tomorrow.
At the core of Proxima’s platform is its NeoLink data-generation technology, which produces structural information on protein complexes at proteome-wide scale, paired with its Neo AI model series. Together, these systems enable end-to-end discovery and development of proximity-modulating small molecules, with the goal of improving safety, shortening timelines, and enabling entirely new therapeutic mechanisms for challenging, previously “undruggable” targets.
“Proximity-based therapeutics represent one of most promising frontiers in modern drug discovery with the potential to treat previously intractable diseases and target ‘undruggable’ proteins,” said Jason Pontin, General Partner at DCVC, who will be joining the company’s board. “Proxima’s technology combines proteome-scale structural data with state-of-the-art generative AI foundation models, and the company’s team is uniquely well-positioned to discover and develop a new class of medicines.”
Proxima has established an industry-leading track record of partnering with top biopharmaceutical companies, securing multibillion-dollar research collaborations with leaders including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Blueprint Medicines (acquired by Sanofi). Multiple co-developed programs with partners are currently advancing toward the clinic, with the first on track to enter clinical trials in 2026.
About Proxima
Proxima is pioneering a transformative approach to drug discovery by illuminating the dynamic networks of protein interactions that drive biological function. Leveraging a groundbreaking structural proteomics platform and frontier machine learning capabilities, Proxima is uniquely positioned to unlock novel therapeutic strategies that induce, modulate, or block protein interfaces, making previously undruggable targets accessible and providing powerful new ways to target diseases by rewiring cellular circuitry. Alongside a robust and mechanistically differentiated internal pipeline, Proxima collaborates extensively with external partners to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative therapies across novel proximity modalities. For more information, please visit www.proximabio.com.
Proxima’s science is new to me, and I’m not alone on that: “Proximity-based medicines represent one of the most powerful new ways to treat disease, but progress has been constrained by a lack of structural data and accurate design tools,” said Zachary Carpenter, Co-Founder and CEO, Proxima.
The concept is simple — protein-protein interactions are the basis of everything in biology. Once they go wrong or produce unwanted outcomes, it’s like a domino-effect, so much else goes wrong, too. Unfortunately, drug discovery at this level isn’t too developed yet. Startups like Proxima are actively changing this. Proxima uses AI and NeoLink data-generation technology, which allows insight into targets that were unreachable until now. I will definitely stay informed on Proxima’s development.
Exciva raises €51 million ($59m) in Series B funding round co-led by Gimv and EQT
Heidelberg, Germany, January 20, 2026 – Exciva GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions, today announces the closing of a €51 million ($59m) Series B financing round. Gimv and EQT Life Sciences co-led the round. Additional participants included new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners, LifeArc Ventures, Carma Fund and Modi Ventures, as well as existing investors Andera Partners and LBBW.
The proceeds will primarily fund a phase 2 study evaluating Deraphan’s therapeutic potential for treating agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Deraphan is the combination of two clinically validated products, including one novel chemical entity (NCE), which have demonstrated activity in the CNS field, with the potential to offer better efficacy and risk/benefit ratio than existing therapies. The clinical trial will be conducted in Europe, the UK, the US and Canada. A phase 1 trial with Deraphan has been successfully completed and showed that the combination is safe and well-tolerated.
Following the Series B, the board of directors will be composed of Raphaël Wisniewski (Andera Partners), Philip Scheltens (EQT Life Sciences), Andreas Jurgeit (Gimv), Aidan King (Fountain Healthcare), Vikram Sudarsan (independent Board member) and François Conquet (CEO).
“We are delighted that we could attract funding from both existing and new investors. This confirms that our product is highly promising,” said François Conquet, CEO of Exciva. “If the results of the phase 2 trial are positive, it will be a significant step forward in symptomatic treatment options for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Exciva’s therapy for agitation in Alzheimer’s disease is highly differentiated, addressing significant shortcomings in the current standard of care and other products under development,” said Andreas Jurgeit, PhD, partner at Gimv. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Exciva team - backed by decades of expertise in neuropsychiatry drug development, including approved therapies - to transform care for this challenging aspect of dementia.”
“This investment illustrates the potential of Exciva to bring an exciting innovation into a therapeutic area where Alzheimer’s patients have limited or no treatment options,” added Philip Scheltens, MD, PhD, partner at EQT Life Sciences. “We are delighted to co-lead this financing to realize Exciva’s potential, which stands out for both the quality of its science and the expertise of the team. We look forward to bringing this new therapy to patients.”
Julia Braun and her team at Baker McKenzie provided legal advice on the financing to the new investors.
About agitation in Alzheimer’s disease
The behavioral and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia can be severe and demanding on caregivers. These include agitation, aggression, sleep disorders, irritability, depression, anxiety and hallucinations. The prevalence of AD, and its associated behavioral and psychological symptoms, is growing in aging societies. If nothing is done in the meantime, the global dementia population is projected to grow from ~50 million today to over 150 million by 20501. Agitation is highly prevalent in and persistently associated with patients with AD. Epidemiological studies have revealed that, on average, about 40% of AD patient admissions reported agitation2. It is estimated that more than 70% of people with AD dementia develop agitation at some point during the illness34. As of today, only a few drugs are available to treat these symptoms; many carry significant side effects and boxed warnings, limiting their use.
About Exciva
Exciva is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2016 by Drs. Anton Bespalov, Hans Moebius and Rao Vepachedu to address neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease dementia and other brain disorders. Exciva uses its powerful discovery potential, which has led to the combination of two CNS-active compounds to treat agitation in patients living with Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Exciva is based in Heidelberg, Germany.
My chest swells with pride whenever a German startup is on its way up! Exciva targets symptom relief of Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder with no known cure. It cannot be healed or reversed, and it destroys memory and thinking skills over time. Startups like Exciva are needed for bettering the quality of life not only of affected patients, but also of their caregivers. Agitation, aggression, anxiety and hallucinations are undoubtedly devastating for the patient, but also a massive hurdle caregivers face when trying to handle their patients with care. Only a few medications treat these symptoms, and I’m sure Exciva will be a great torch-bearer.