Kuano raises pre-seed funding
London, UK, 25 Feb 2021: Kuano is excited to announce that the o2h human health EIS Fund is leading a consortium of investors participating in a pre-seed round in order to establish proof of concept of our unique quantum modelling and AI-inspired drug discovery technology. Our platform, which focuses on modelling the quantum transition state of the catalytic site of enzymes, brings a new perspective to designing better enzyme inhibitors. This approach overcomes key limitations of existing discovery technologies and enables us to develop drugs with improved potency and selectivity while minimizing susceptibility to resistance caused by mutations.
Kuano is establishing an early stage pipeline of inhibitors of attractive drug targets in areas such as protein degradation and immunometabolism. Simultaneously we are seeking collaborative deals with pharma and biotech to leverage our technology platform to develop novel inhibitors to challenging high value enzymes.
o2h Ventures has a track record of nurturing and investing in some of the most innovative early stage biotech companies in the UK. Joining o2h Ventures in this investment round is Meltwind, Syndicate Room and Cambridge Angels.
Dr. Vid Stojevic, Co-Founder CEO of Kuano, said:
o2h Ventures have been supportive over the last six months to develop our business model and also to identify high value drug targets. I am very excited to work with a fund with the deep expertise and network that o2h Ventures can bring in the biotech space.
Sunil Shah, CEO at o2h Ventures said:
We are very pleased to back Kuano in this venture. Being able to more accurately understand and predict subtle changes around enzyme’s active sites could unlock faster opportunities to push inhibitors for difficult drug targets through discovery and development. Vid and Dave using their knowledge of quantum physics and Parminder and Jarryl with their previous big pharma and biotech drug discovery experience make a great team to both develop the platform and advance the drug assets from this. I am very much looking forward to joining the board and supporting this venture.
About o2h Ventures:
The o2h human health EIS Fund is the first S/EIS fund in the UK solely focused on investing in EIS and/or SEIS qualifying seed stage companies covering novel drug discovery & AI, digital therapeutics and enabling services.
The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h Ventures operates from their proprietary 2.7 acre Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.
For more information about o2h Ventures, please visit www.o2hventures.com