Bay­er fronts $65M Se­ries A for Metageno­mi, a gene ther­a­py biotech aim­ing to find new CRISPR en­zymes

Gene edit­ing is all the rage in biotech these days, with the field grow­ing in promi­nence es­pe­cial­ly af­ter this year’s No­bel Prize in Chem­istry was award­ed to two pi­o­neer­ing CRISPR sci­en­tists in Em­manuelle Char­p­en­tier and Jen­nifer Doud­na. And now, Bay­er’s in­vest­ment arm is go­ing all-in on a new gene edit­ing out­fit.

Leaps by Bay­er is co-lead­ing a $65 mil­lion Se­ries A round for Metageno­mi, a biotech launched by UC Berke­ley sci­en­tists that emerged from stealth on Thurs­day. Hum­boldt Fund is co-lead­ing the round with Leaps. Metageno­mi, which will be run by Berke­ley re­searcher Bri­an Thomas, is look­ing to de­vel­op a “tool­box” of both CRISPR- and non-CRISPR-based gene edit­ing sys­tems be­yond the Cas9 pro­tein typ­i­cal­ly seen in the field these days.

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