An early-stage biotech investor called YK Bioventures plans to raise $100 million, according to an SEC
filing
on Wednesday.
The VC firm has invested in at least five startups, according to public disclosures. That includes bone disorder biotech
āshibio;
epigenetics company
Moonwalk Biosciences
, which was co-founded by Feng Zhang; synthetic biology startup
Think Bioscience;
regenerative medicine-focused
Tempo Therapeutics;
and hair loss drug developer
Pelage Pharmaceuticals
.
Gary Yeung and Mitchell Kossar are leading the Burlingame, CA-based firm. Yeung previously held executive roles at GGTG Biosciences, xilis, and Erasca, and spent a dozen years at Genentech, which he departed in 2016. Meanwhile, Kossar is president of a life sciences consultancy called First Principles Advisory Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.
On his LinkedIn profile, Yeung describes YK as “Beyond Capital,” meaning it provides “industry experience and connections” in addition to money.
“We are backed by selected biotech executives and Wall Street investors, partnered with academic and industry luminaries to ‘do well by doing good’ — attributed to Benjamin Franklin,” Yeung wrote on his profile. “We invest in companies that define the future of medicine and patient care.”
Yeung and Kossar couldn’t immediately be reached by
Endpoints News
.
So far this year, several other biotech investment firms have put together funds of a similar size — between $100 million and $200 million. It’s a wide range of global investors, including Canadian firm
Amplitude
, Germany-based
Earlybird Health
, Australia’s
Brandon Capital
, Italy-focused
XGEN Venture
, Boulder, CO-based
NewVale Capital
, Dublin’s
Seroba
and
Invivo
in Barcelona, among others.