Synlogic, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutic microbes, today announced the company raised $29.4 million in a Series A financing led by Atlas Venture and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Synlogic plans to use the proceeds from this financing to further develop its first-in-class proprietary microbial engineering platform for the development of therapeutic microbes and advance its preclinical pipeline across several clinical applications.

'Synlogic leverages the most advanced technology platform available for the creation of synthetically engineered, therapeutic microbes with the potential to make significant advancements in the treatment of disease,' said Ankit Mahadevia, M.D., Venture Partner at Atlas Venture and Co-founder of Synlogic. 'Our patent estate, coupled with the scientific leadership of our founding team and our financial resources provides an unparalleled foundation for the rapid transformation of this fundamental science into breakthrough benefits for patients.'

Synlogic was co-founded in Fall 2013 by Dr. Mahadevia, Atlas Venture; Jim Collins Ph.D., William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, University Professor, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Medicine at Boston University; and Timothy Lu M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The company was incubated as part of the Atlas Venture seed program. Peter Barrett, Ph.D., Partner at Atlas Venture, Ed Mathers, Partner at NEA, and Dr. Mahadevia will serve on the Synlogic board of directors.

'The unique features of the Synlogic platform enable us to develop high potential therapeutics today; in addition, the evolving understanding of the microbiome creates opportunities for us to apply the platform to create novel therapeutics for many years into the future,' said Peter Barrett, Chairman of Synlogic.

'We believe that with our further understanding of the microbiome, the time has come to fulfill the promise of synthetic biology for patients,' said Ed Mathers. 'We're thrilled to be working with the Synlogic team to build the company that will make that promise a reality.'

Drs. Collins and Lu are leaders in the field of synthetic biology and have advanced an array of tools that enable bacteria to sense physiologic conditions, perform a therapeutic action, and deactivate themselves after completing that function. Their tools, supported with a substantial estate of issued and filed patents, now serve as the technology engine for Synlogic's proprietary pipeline of therapeutics. This platform offers a unique modality to treat diseases where traditional, systemically delivered pharmaceuticals have not been successful and an approach targeted to the GI system could have merit.

'Synlogic is at the forefront of developing novel engineered bacteria for therapeutic use. Bacteria have been shown to be an ideal vector for the production and delivery of drugs for many diseases ' many bacteria already exist in a commensal or even mutualistic relationship with the human body, they already contain compounds and metabolic pathways that can release or produce drugs and a large proportion of diseases are bacterial,' said Dr. Collins. 'Our goal is simple ' use the amazing potential of synthetic biology to play a critical role in the development of therapies that lead to improved clinical outcomes for patients.'

About Atlas Venture

Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 350 companies in more than 16 different countries. Atlas Venture is currently investing from its ninth fund which closed in May 2013. For more information, visit www.atlasventure.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than $13 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare and energy technology companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record includes more than 180 portfolio company IPOs and more than 300 acquisitions. In the U.S., NEA has offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area; Menlo Park, California; Boston, Massachusetts and New York City. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.