Seattle biotechnology startup Juno Therapeutics, which is developing immunotherapies for cancer, said it has closed its series A financing round at $176 million.
That marks one of the largest early-stage financing rounds for a biotechnology company. Juno had previously announced $145 million in funding, including cash from ARCH Venture Partners; the Alaska Permanent Fund; Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Venrock.
“Juno’s Series A round provides significant resources to support truly transformative science,” said CEO Hans Bishop in a press release. “Juno’s approach to cancer immunotherapy brings together world-class clinical, business and regulatory skills necessary to make a game changing impact on cancer treatment.”
Juno is a spin out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and is working on research designed to kill cancer by rewiring the immune system.
In addition to the funding, Juno announced that Mark Frohlich has been appointed as Executive Vice President of R&D and Barney Cassidy has been named General Counsel. Frohlich previously served as chief medical officer at Dendreon, and before that worked as vice president at Xcyte Therapies. Cassidy previously served as general counsel of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. and Tessera Technologies.
