Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Thursday, April 23 2020 - 13:30
AsiaNet
Bugworks Raises US$7.5M From a Global Investment Syndicate to Combat the Global Challenge Posed by Deadly Bacterial Superbugs
BANGALORE, India, WILMINGTON, Delaware and ADELAIDE, Australia, April 23, 2020 /PRNewswire

Bugworks Research Inc,[https://bugworksresearch.com/] a global biopharma 
start-up designing novel broad-spectrum antibiotics, announced the completion 
of a $7.5M financing, led by University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC)[ 
https://www.ut-ec.co.jp/english/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=april] 
Japan and Global Brain Corporation (Global Brain) Japan 
[https://globalbrains.com/en/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=april],a
long with Acquipharma Holdings, South-Africa. The company has raised $19M till 
date and has 3one4 
Capital[https://3one4capital.com/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=apri
l] as an existing investor.  

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1157251/Bugworks_Logo.jpg

This investment enables Bugworks to complete Phase 1 studies for its GYROX 
series Intravenous drug candidate and advance an Oral lead towards clinical 
development. Bugworks' drug candidate, a dual-target gyrase-topoisomerase 
inhibitor [https://carb-x.org/portfolio/gallery/], supported by CARB-X 
[https://carb-x.org/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=apri] since 
2017, is a novel broad-spectrum agent targeting critical bacterial infections 
implicated in serious hospital, community and biothreat indications.

"UTEC led the Bugworks Series A in 2018, as we identified Antimicrobial 
resistance (AMR) as one of the global issues of mankind, and facilitated 
Bugworks' collaboration with Japanese ecosystem. Bugworks has thoroughly 
impressed us with their scientific rigour, pre-clinical data, business 
development progress and commitment to saving lives. We are now proud to 
double-down our investment in Bugworks," said Tomotaka Goji, Managing Partner & 
President, UTEC.

"As witnessed with COVID-19, infectious diseases are threatening human 
existence. AMR is a serious issue and Global Brain regards this as a big unmet 
medical need. We are proud to partner with Bugworks to bring highly 
differentiated solutions in AMR to the market. We consider India to be an 
important region, both from innovation and market perspective and are hence 
accelerating our investment activity in India," said Yasuhiko Yurimoto, 
Founder-CEO & General Partner Global Brain.

"This new financing is an endorsement of our team and differentiated AMR 
assets, as we bring reputed global investors to aid our mission of pandemic 
preparedness by defeating superbug infections," said Dr. Anand Anandkumar, CEO 
of Bugworks.

Investors Profile

UTEC is a Tokyo-based early-stage VC with over $500M AUM with 11 successful 
IPOs and 11 M&As. UTEC invests in seed/early-stage startups that solve global 
issues of humankind using profound science and technology.

Global Brain is a VC firm based in Tokyo with offices in San Francisco, London, 
Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta. With over $1.5B assets under management, Global 
Brain has invested in 200+ startups selectively from seed/early to pre-IPO 
startups and achieved 17 IPOs and 48 M&As.

Acquipharma Holdings is a South-Africa based life-science boutique investment 
fund, who've invested in Bugworks since 2016.

Bugworks Company contact:
Leela Maitreyi
lmaitreyi@bugworksresearch.com 

www.bugworksresearch.com

 

Source: Bugworks Research Inc.


Translations

Japanese