Sensible Biotechnologies said that it has raised $47 million in financing that it will use to advance and scale its integrated mRNA technology. The financing includes a Series A and up to $20 million in non-dilutive funding from the Government of Slovakia and the European Union.
According to the company, the funds will support the development of what it claims is a first-of-its-kind platform for naturally modified mRNA medicines. The so-called Versatile Engine for Cell-based Therapeutic Optimization of RNA (VECTOR) platform integrates computational and artificial intelligence-enabled sequence optimization, high-throughput screening, and proprietary engineered eukaryotic cells to design and manufacture mRNA. Meanwhile, the company’s PromPT technology is designed to capture and protect mRNA inside cells before it is purified for therapeutic use.
Specifically, Sensible will use the funds to expand VECTOR’s AI-enabled mRNA design and automated high-throughput screening capabilities as well as support the development of clinical-grade manufacturing capabilities. Sensible’s platform harnesses the natural machinery of living cells to produce naturally modified mRNA with reduced immunogenicity and high protein expression while avoiding double-stranded RNA contamination. Furthermore, by using engineered living cells, Sensible reduces reliance on specialized raw materials and manufacturing inputs, enabling more scalable production and expanding mRNA into therapeutic applications that require higher or repeated dosing.
Rather than relying on synthetic manufacturing technology developed more than 40 years ago, “we are taking a fundamentally different approach, using living cells to produce naturally modified mRNA while reducing the cost and supply-chain constraints of conventional production,” said Miroslav Gasparek, Sensible’s co-founder and CEO. “With this financing, we can scale our platform and expand mRNA into therapeutic applications requiring high or repeated dosing that have historically been limited by cost.”
The Series A includes participation from new investors OTB Ventures and In-Q-Tel, alongside existing investors Recode Ventures, Isomer Capital, Y Combinator, Backed VC, Kaya VC, Civilization Ventures, and BlueYard Capital, as well as the family office of Christoph Huber, co-founder of BioNTech, and Tim Garnett, former chief medical officer of Eli Lilly, and other individual investors.
In connection with the financing, Vishal Gulati, MD, FMedSci, managing partner at Recode Ventures, and Joel Schoppig, partner at Oxford Science Enterprises, will join Sensible’s board of directors alongside Miroslav Gasparek and Marian Kupculak, PhD, CSO and co-founder.