Alpha-9 Oncology Inc. (Alpha-9 or the Company), a clinical stage company developing radiopharmaceuticals to meaningfully improve the treatment of people living with cancer, today announced an oversubscribed $175 million Series C financing to support the progression of its pipeline. The financing was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ascenta Capital. A selected syndicate of new investors – General Catalyst, a16z Bio + Health, RA Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Delos Capital, Digitalis Ventures, Lumira Ventures and a healthcare fund managed by abrdn Inc. – joined the round, in addition to existing investors Frazier Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Nextech Invest, BVF Partners LP, and Samsara BioCapital. Shelley Chu, head of Lightspeed Venture Partners’ healthcare team and Evan Rachlin, cofounder and managing partner of Ascenta Capital will join the Company’s Board of Directors.
Alpha-9 has built a diversified portfolio of clinical and discovery assets across both validated and novel targets. The Series C will fund human studies for the clinical stage assets and advancement of discovery stage assets to clinic-ready development candidates. Furthermore, the Series C will fund expanded R&D capabilities and continued investment in CMC and supply chain.
“Over the last few years, Alpha-9 has built a leading radiopharmaceutical company with a deep pipeline and robust infrastructure,” said Alpha-9 CEO, David Hirsch, MD, PhD. “The Series C is an exciting, significant milestone for us and will greatly accelerate our growth. We are thrilled to have the backing of a top-tier investor syndicate who share our belief in the potential of radiopharmaceuticals.”
“Alpha-9 is developing a differentiated portfolio that includes multiple radiopharmaceuticals with first-in-class and best-in-class potential,” said Shelley Chu, head of Lightspeed Venture Partners’ healthcare team. “We are impressed with the team’s progress to date and are proud to support the advancement of these programs.”
Alpha-9’s approach to designing bespoke molecules is systematic and data-driven. The Company has a differentiated toolbox of binders, linkers, chelators and radioisotopes – elements that each play an integral role in radiopharmaceutical development. Alpha-9 designs each component of the radiopharmaceutical for optimal selectivity, stability and payload delivery. The Alpha-9 approach is rigorous, fast and capital efficient, generating best-in-class compounds for rapid clinical development.
“We have been following this space for a long time. What differentiated Alpha-9 was its effective approach to molecule design as well as its thoughtful strategy on infrastructure expansion,” said Evan Rachlin, MD, managing partner of Ascenta Capital. “We are pleased to support the Company’s continued progress as it strives to deliver on the promise of radiopharmaceuticals.”
To support its endeavors, Alpha-9 has purpose-built research facilities in Vancouver, which were completed last year and have been operating at scale. These facilities help to accelerate drug development by streamlining discovery processes. Alpha-9 has also partnered with isotope suppliers and CDMOs to support its ongoing clinical trials. Alpha-9’s commitment to continue building robust infrastructure and world class capabilities underscores the company’s mission to provide effective treatments for patients worldwide.
About Alpha-9 Oncology
Alpha-9 Oncology Inc. is a clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company developing differentiated and highly targeted radiopharmaceuticals with the potential to meaningfully improve the treatment of people living with cancer. Applying proprietary technologies and deep foundational expertise, Alpha-9 is on the forefront of engineering bespoke radiopharmaceuticals that are optimized to selectively deliver radiation to tumor sites while minimizing off-target effects. Alpha-9 is advancing a robust pipeline of novel radiopharmaceuticals with a systematic approach to molecule design that offers broad potential for expansion into several validated oncology targets.
About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise, Healthcare, Consumer and Fintech sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including biotechnology companies such as Abata, Ancora, Diagonal, Enlaza, Forty Seven, Personalis, Pheon, Teneobio, Triana, Scorpion, Seismic, Ultima Genomics, Xaira, ZagBio, and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage $25B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia.
About Ascenta Capital
Ascenta Capital is a biotech venture fund, co-founded in 2023 by Dr. Evan Rachlin and Dr. Lorence Kim. The fund is focused on a concentrated portfolio of investments in multi-product companies.
