This YC batch represents the most impressive group of biotech founders I have worked with. If any one of them succeeds, the face of medicine will change for the better. But the thing is, they’re so talented and hardworking -- I can see multiple game-changing medicines from this one group making it to the market. They’re doing things like producing experimental data in record time, attracting world-class advisors like the founding CSO of Moderna, to working on radically new approaches to treat cancer. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the following companies this batch:
Two long-time friends and Ph.D.s from Oxford have started Granza. Granza Bio is developing cancer therapeutics called "attack particles,” derived from our body’s immune system. These "attack particles" selectively target and kill only cancer cells, eliminating toxicity from cancer treatment. The team has obtained cancer-killing efficacy data in models of ovarian, brain, lung, and skin cancers. Dr Ashwin Menon Nandakumar
Friends and co-authors on multiple publications, this dual women founder team started Eris. Eris Biotech develops cancer drugs that target tumors without poisoning the rest of the body. Their first drug, which only activates under low oxygen environments- a hallmark of solid tumors- is designed to treat mesothelioma. Evita Weagel, Ph.D.
These two friends were colleagues/leaders in the space before leaving the comfortable life of industry to embark on their start-up. ParcelBio is an mRNA therapeutics company addressing the “delivery problem.” Their programmable technology enables the safe, specific, and efficient delivery of mRNA medicines to diverse cell types in the body—without a nanoparticle. David Weinberg
If you’re lucky enough to speak to these two, you will not believe that this medical school drop outs are only 22. Wise beyong their years, they started Velorum. Velorum Therapeutics is developing a new class of cancer drugs that starve tumors by hijacking cancer metabolism. They have shown that their drugs work in mice and plan to begin human clinical trials next year, starting with the #1 cancer killer – lung cancer. Pouya Modareszadeh
These brilliant boston based founders started Synsory. At SynsoryBio, they engineer "if-then" conditional logic into protein medicines, meaning only if the protein drug senses a disease marker, then it turns on. They are applying this technology to clinically tested but highly toxic cancer immunotherapies to make them safer and more effective. Elliot Tague
Selera Medical is a bit different from the rest – they met at Stanford and have created a medical device that can cure hearth failure with a one time treatment, which would be both groundbreaking for patients as well as our healthcare system, which spends a tremendous amount of money on heart failure. Stacie Arechavala
