Gene edit­ing up­start backed by Broad star Feng Zhang nabs $135M, blue­print­ing a plat­form biotech for the long haul

Im­age: John Evans. BEAM

Last May, when Beam Ther­a­peu­tics had its com­ing out par­ty, com­plete with $87 mil­lion in in­vest­ment back­ing, a sol­id core of 15 staffers and a dream team of sci­en­tif­ic co-founders, CEO John Evans was sure they were set for sev­er­al years of R&D work.

But that’s not the way it played out. 

At a time when the mon­ey spig­ot is wide open for the right biotech plans and teams, Beam is an­nounc­ing that it went back to the ven­ture well to flesh out its syn­di­cate and added a whop­ping $135 mil­lion mon­ster round to the bank. That core team has swelled to 70, with more hires on the way as the ex­ec­u­tive team pre­pares to host a staff of 130. And Evans says they are well on their way to cre­at­ing a pipeline of pro­grams be­gin­ning with the 10 pre­clin­i­cal ef­forts they have un­der­way in new­ly opened labs.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER