Biodesy Inc., a next-generation biomolecule characterization company, today announced the promotion of Ariel G. Notcovich to Chief Executive Officer, and the completion of a $20 million Series C financing. The new CEO appointment and financing round will enable the company to drive biopharmaceutical adoption of its technology platform and further demonstrate the value of measuring structural changes in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics.
Notcovich is an accomplished life science executive and entrepreneur who brings more than 20 years of professional experience in all aspects and stages of product research and development. Since joining the company in 2014, he has been fully responsible for the commercial development of the company's Delta™ System that gives researchers the ability to monitor structural changes in real time and high throughput for the first time. Prior to Biodesy, Notcovich held scientific leadership positions at Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., where he created the Protein Technologies R&D group to develop products for imaging, chromatography, gel electrophoresis and blotting, and measuring protein-protein interactions. He joined Bio-Rad following the acquisition of ProteOptics Ltd., a multichannel Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging company that he founded in 2000.
The Series C funding was led by Alexandria Venture Investments and supported by existing investors, 5AM Ventures, Pfizer Ventures (PV) and Roche Venture Fund (RVF). Biodesy is using the proceeds to expand its scientific and commercial operations team, demonstrate further value in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics, and leverage its core technology via strategic partnerships.
"Alexandria Venture Investments is constantly searching for innovative life science and technology companies like Biodesy that are developing breakthrough technologies and therapies," said Monica Beam, PhD, Senior Vice President of Science & Technology at Alexandria Venture Investments. "We believe in Ariel as a leader and in the Delta System's ability to transform drug discovery and development by enabling customers to directly measure on-target structural effects faster and more cost-effectively than ever before."
As part of the investment round, Biodesy announced updates to its leadership team to help position the company for long-term success in the bioanalytical tools and drug discovery industry. Industry veterans Mitchell Mutz, PhD, Investment Director at RVF, and Mark Gallop, PhD, Executive-in-Residence at 5AM Ventures have been appointed to the company's Board of Directors. Dr. Mutz was previously a Board Observer. In addition, the company announced that Josh Salafsky, PhD, Biodesy Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, will soon transition to a Professor (Adjunct) position at University of California, San Francisco. He will continue to provide scientific support to the company in an advisory role.
"There is a significant unmet need in the industry for tools and technologies that enable a better understanding of structural changes," said Dr. Gallop. "Over the past four years, Ariel has led the development of a differentiated biophysical characterization tool that can help accelerate the discovery of a new wave of drugs that modulate critical functions of biological molecules."
"I would like to thank Josh for his years of service to the company and wish him continued success in his new position at UCSF. Biodesy exists today because of his breakthrough application of Second Harmonic Generation and long-term vision of how it could be used to transform drug discovery and structural biology," said Notcovich. "We are thrilled to have Alexandria join an exceptional set of investors, and I'm looking forward to working with the Biodesy team and Board of Directors as we expand and build upon our recent successes."
About Alexandria Venture Investments Alexandria Venture Investments, founded in 1996, is the strategic venture capital arm of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE). Alexandria Venture Investments focuses on novel, breakthrough discoveries in biopharma, diagnostics, research tools, agtech, and technology. Based on its experience and in-depth understanding of the life science and technology industries, its long-term relationships with leading investors and its world-class scientific advisory network, Alexandria Venture Investments is uniquely positioned to fund seed, early-, and growth-stage companies. For more information, please visit www.are.com.
About Biodesy Biodesy is a next-generation biomolecule characterization company focused on catalyzing the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for human disease. The company's Delta™ System and core Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) technology enables researchers to monitor structural changes in real time and high throughput for the first time, and has been successfully applied to approximately 80 different proteins representing more than 15 different target classes. The company has placed instruments at multiple biopharmaceutical and academic sites, and is partnering with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to gain significant insights into many human diseases and the way they are treated. Biodesy is located in South San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.biodesy.com.
The Biodesy Delta System is for Research Use Only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. Biodesy, the Biodesy logo and Delta System are trademarks of Biodesy, Inc. All other brands may be trademarks of their respective holders.