Versant Ventures

Versant Ventures and Amplitude Ventures led the Series A round, while venBio Partners led the Series B round.

Versant Ventures has launched Matterhorn Biosciences AG, a biotech company focused on developing T cell receptor therapies.

Versant Ventures has made multiple promotions and appointments.

Vida Ventures has named Jean-Philippe Kouakou-Zebouah as chief financial and chief operating officer. Previously, he worked at Versant Ventures where he was senior vice president of finance.

Vensana Capital, which was launched by healthcare-focused venture firm Versant Ventures, has closed its debut fund at US$225 million. Vensana Capital I's limited partners include public pensions, university endowments, foundations, academic health systems, family offices and fund-of-funds. The fund will invest in the medical tech sector. Versant's offices include San Diego, San Francisco, Minneapolis, New York City and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Chinook Therapeutics has raised US$65 million in Series A financing. Versant Ventures led the round with participation from Apple Tree Partners and Samsara BioCapital. Based in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Chinook is a developer of precision medicines for kidney diseases.

Chinook Therapeutics, a Vancouver-based developer of precision medicines for kidney disease, has raised about $86 million (US$65 million) in a Series A financing. U.S. life sciences venture capital firm Versant Ventures led the round, with participation from Apple Tree Partners and Samsara BioCapital. Chinook was incubated through Versant's Inception Sciences and seeded by Versant and Apple Tree. Chinook's technology leverages single-cell RNA sequencing, human-derived organoids and new translational models to develop therapeutics with novel mechanisms of action against kidney disease pathways. Led by President and CEO Eric Dobmeier, the company will use the funds raised to advance several programs into clinical trials by 2021.

Before we get to today's Side Letter, the big news overnight, of course, was Donald Trump's victory over Kamala Harris, and the Republicans winning back control of the Senate. Private equity, for all the scrutiny it has come under in recent years, hasn't been a major battleground in this election. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this morning's results – anonymously or otherwise – we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, here's today's brief, for our valued subscribers only.

More than half of the firms on this year’s list report that their five-year fundraising totals declined or remained flat from the previous period.

Most recently, he was CSO at Navitor Pharmaceuticals.

Cimeio Therapeutics, a cell therapy company, has raised $50 million in Series A funding.

Most recently, he was president and CEO of Scholar Rock.

The firms at the top swelled in size over the last year. But 14 firms emerged on this, the second annual list of the 50 largest fundraisers worldwide in venture for the previous five years. Here are three takeaways.

San Diego and Vancouver-based biotechnology company Tentarix Biotherapeutics secured $50 million in Series A financing.

iECURE, a mutation-agnostic in vivo gene editing company, has secured $50 million in Series A financing.