DATA PAGE Innovative startups 2012 Brady Huggett listing of the top 10 innovative startups receiving the largest Series A In fact, a look at the broader life science startup sector shows that more Arounds in 2012 is made up entirely of companies from the US, than two-thirds of A rounds in 2012 went to US companies (Fig. 1). underlying how these enterprises find it easier to raise risk capital. The Regarding investors, Third Rock Ventures was sole backer for two of the top five is dominated by firms located in the traditional biotech hubs of largest A rounds, and the year saw a persistent presence of corporate ven- San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts. ture arms: Novo, Novartis and Roche all made Table 1. Table 1 Top 10 A rounds in 2012 for innovative startups Company Amount (millions), date, investors Academic founders Other Technology Global Blood $40.7, 6/14, Matthew P. Jacobson, Andrej Sali and Jack Charles Homcy, Third Rock Ventures; Using computational biology and Therapeutics, Third Rock Ventures Taunton, University of California, San Francisco Craig Muir, Third Rock Ventures; protein-ligand modeling with medici- San Francisco David Phillips, cofounder of nal chemistry and empiric screening COR Therapeutics and Portola for developing therapeutics for genetic Pharmaceuticals blood disorders Moderna $40, 12/6, Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Noubar Afeyan, Flagship Ventures; Developing first-in-class chemically Therapeutics, Flagship Ventures, Technology; Derrick Rossi, Harvard University Stéphane Bancel, previously CEO of modified mRNA therapeutics Cambridge, private investors bioMérieux Massachusetts MyoKardia, $38, 9/20, Third Leslie Leinwand, University of Colorado Not applicable Developing mutation-specific sarco- San Francisco Rock Ventures Boulder; Christine Seidman, Harvard; Jonathan meric allosteric modulators for cardio- G. Seidman, Harvard; myopathies James A. Spudich, Stanford University Allakos, San $32, 12/17, Novo Ventures, Not applicable Christopher Bebbington, more than Developing antibody therapeutics based Francisco Alta Partners, RiverVest Venture 25 years of experience in biopharma on the dysregulation of the T helper type Partners, Roche Venture Fund 2 immune response Cerecor, Baltimore $22, 4/4, accredited investors, Solomon H. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University; Isaac Blech and Blake Paterson, serial Developing drugs for the nervous company directors Barbara Slusher, Brain Science Institute Drug entrepreneurs system including cough and schizo- NeuroTranslational Discovery Program phrenia BioMotiv, Cleveland $21, 9/5, University Hospitals Board of Managers: Achilles A. Demetriou, UH; Jonathan S. Stamler, UH Harrington Accelerator for aligning capital and (UH), Harrington family Discovery Institute; Ronald G. Harrington and Robert S. Reitman, entrepreneurs and collaborations with physician inven- philanthropists; Robert W. Keith, CEO, BioMotiv; David C. U’Prichard, CSO, BioMotiv tors Atterocor, $16, 8/3, Frazier Healthcare Gary Hammer, University of Michigan Julia Owens, formerly at Lycera Corp.; Lead program in rare (adrenal) cancer Ann Arbor, Michigan Ventures, 5AM Ventures Raili Kerppola, ONL Therapeutics Thesan $16, 10/30, Novo Ventures, Daniele Piomelli, University of California, Irvine Not applicable Lead candidate a topically applied Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Venture Funds and the Italian Institute of Technology new chemical entity for dermatology San Clemente, expected to enter the clinic in 2013 California © 2013 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. America, Inc. © 2013 Nature Vascular $16M, 9/12, Intersouth Partners, David R. Clemmons, University of North Not applicable Developing monoclonal antibody with Pharma ceuticals, MPM Capital Carolina at Chapel Hill activity against proteinuria and histologi- Chapel Hill, North cal changes in the kidney Carolina npg ImaginAb, $12.5, 3/26, Novartis Venture Robert Reiter, University of California, Los Christian Behrenbruch, serial entre- In vivo imaging agents for positron Inglewood, Funds, Mérieux Développement, Angeles (UCLA) Anna Wu, UCLA and the preneur emission tomography based on anti- California Nextech Invest, Cycad Group, Beckman Research Institute of the City of body fragment technology Momentum Biosciences Hope; Tove Olafsen, UCLA Source: BCIQ: BioCentury Online Intelligence; company websites US 56 UK 4 Norway 4 First Rounders Podcast: Canada 3 Henri A. Termeer Germany 3 Russia2 Termeer was named CEO of Genzyme Spain 2 in 1983. Under his guidance the firm China 2 produced several life-saving drugs The Netherlands 2 and became one of the flagships of Israel 1 the biotech sector, particularly in Sweden 1 developing drugs for rare disease. Nature France 1 Switzerland 1 Biotechnology spoke to Termeer about the India 1 early years at Genzyme, the company’s Number of A rounds Belgium 1 acquisition by Sanofi in 2011 and his 0102030405060 advice to bioentrepreneurs. http://www. Figure 1 Startups by country, 2012. Source: BioCentury Online Intelligence nature.com/nbt/podcast/index.html. (BCIQ) 194 VOLUME 31 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2013 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY.