Singapore biotech firm Hummingbird Bioscience secures $125m in Series C

Singapore-based clinical-stage biotech company Hummingbird Bioscience has raised $125 million in its Series C funding round led by Novo Holdings, a global life science investor.

A group of life science investors has also participated in the funding round, including Frazier Healthcare Partners, Octagon Capital, EDBI, AMGEN Ventures, DROIA Ventures, Morningside Ventures, Pureos Bioventures, Polaris Partners, Affinity Asset Advisors, Ally Bridge Group, and Altrium Capital Management.

Existing investors including SK Inc, Heritas Capital, and Mirae Asset Venture Capital also joined in the fundraising, according to a statement.

Hummingbird Bioscience, co-founded by Jerome Boyd-Kirkup and Piers Ingram in 2014, said it will use the fresh funds to advance the clinical development of its lead assets including, HMBD-001, a best-in-class HER3 antibody for NRG1-fusion and HER3-driven tumors, and HMBD-002, a first-in-class anti-VISTA neutralizing antibody for advanced solid tumors.

Additionally, the funds will also be used to expand the capabilities of Hummingbird’s proprietary Rational Antibody Discovery platform and progress the development of its next-generation pipeline of precision therapeutics, including HMBD-009, a BCMA-TACI dual-specific T cell engager.

“We are delighted to have the support and confidence of leading global healthcare investors to advance the development of our unique pipeline of precision therapies against important, yet hard-to-drug targets,” said Piers Ingram, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

“We have made tremendous progress since closing our Series B in 2019 and this financing reflects strong support for our platform, people, and development strategy,” he added.

The biotech startup raised $25 million in an extended Series B funding round in May 2020, co-led by Mirae Asset Venture Investment and SK Holdings

As part of the funding round, Kenneth Kenneth Harrison from Novo Ventures (an affiliate of Novo Holdings) and Dan Estes from Frazier Healthcare Partners will be joining Hummingbird’s board of directors.

“We believe that Hummingbird’s novel data-driven, systems biology approach brings new precision to the field of antibody-drug discovery and development, and we are proud to support the team in realizing their vision,” said Harrison.