VCs in USD 156m round for Quell Therapeutics

Syncona Partners, British Patient Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Monashee Investment Management, Point72 and Tekla Capital Management also participated in the round.

Quell intends to use the fresh capital to fund clinical trials and to advance its drug development pipeline. This includes funding the Liberate Phase 1/2 clinical trial of QEL-001, its first-in-class antigen-specific multi-modular CAR-T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapy candidate that aims to prevent organ rejection in liver transplant patients. The company also plans to advance its pipeline in transplantation, neuroinflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases, as well as to develop its autologous multi-modular engineered Treg platform and allogeneic CAR-Treg platform.

Following the round, Jeito Capital partner Rachel Mears, Ridgeback Capital managing director Jeffrey Long-McGie, and SV Health Investors managing partner Houman Ashrafian have joined Quell's board of directors.

According to Unquote Data, 2021 has seen 1,947 venture and growth deals to date with an aggregate value of EUR 80bn, versus 2,350 deals totalling EUR 38.7bn in 2020.

Not only is 2021 a record year for aggregate value of growth and venture deals, but the year has seen 176 rounds of more than EUR 100m with an aggregate value of EUR 54.1bn, according to Unquote Data. Several large rounds for Germany-headquartered startups bolstered this figure, including those raised by banking platform N26, grocery delivery service Gorillas, and investment brokerage platform Trade Republic.

Previous funding
Following its foundation in 2019 in partnership with Syncona Partners, Syncona led a GBP 35m round for Quell in May that year. The VC initially committed GBP 8.3m, with the remainder to be released in instalments, taking a 69.3% stake in the company. Albion Capital also participated in the round, committing GBP 1m via its UCL Technologies Fund.

Company
Quell develops engineered Treg cell therapies for serious medical conditions related to the immune system, including the prevention of rejection in organ transplantation, as well as treating various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company is headquartered in London and was co-founded with Syncona in 2019.

People
Quell Therapeutics – Iain McGill (CEO).
Jeito Capital – Rafaèle Tordjman (founder, CEO).
Ridgeback Capital – Wayne Holman (founder, CEO).
SV Health Investors – Houman Ashrafian (managing partner).
Syncona Partners – Martin Murphy (CEO); Elisa Petris, Freddie Dear (partners).

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• UK / Ireland
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