SQZ Biotech Completes Oversubscribed $72 Million Series C Financing
Summary
"We are deeply appreciative of the excitement and support investors have expressed for the SQZ vision," said Armon Sharei, PhD, SQZs co-founder and CEO. SQZs APCs are engineered to deliver tumor-associated antigens that aim to prime and activate a patients endogenous killer T cells against the target of choice in order to infiltrate tumors and destroy them. In association with the financing, Marc Elia, Partner at Bridger Healthcare, and Zafi Avnur, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Quark Venture (Global Health Science Fund) have joined SQZs board of Directors. Zafi joined Quark from her role as Global Head of Academic Innovation for Roche Partnering that she held since 2006, and in which she led the team that generated the relationship with SQZ Biotech while they were in their earliest stages after spinning out of MIT. Dr. Avnur additionally held the role of Global Head of Neglected Diseases for Roche Partnering where she brokered collaborations and connections with non-profit organizations.