An early-stage biotech investor called YK Bioventures plans to raise $100 million, according to an SEC filing on Wednesday.
The VC firm has invested in at least five startups, according to public disclosures. That includes bone disorder biotech āshibio; epigenetics company Moonwalk Biosciences, which was co-founded by Feng Zhang; synthetic biology startup Think Bioscience; regenerative medicine-focused Tempo Therapeutics; and hair loss drug developer Pelage Pharmaceuticals.
Gary Yeung and Mitchell Kossar are leading the Burlingame, CA-based firm. Yeung previously held executive roles at GGTG Biosciences, xilis, and Erasca, and spent a dozen years at Genentech, which he departed in 2016. Meanwhile, Kossar is president of a life sciences consultancy called First Principles Advisory Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.
On his LinkedIn profile, Yeung describes YK as “Beyond Capital,” meaning it provides “industry experience and connections” in addition to money.
“We are backed by selected biotech executives and Wall Street investors, partnered with academic and industry luminaries to ‘do well by doing good’ — attributed to Benjamin Franklin,” Yeung wrote on his profile. “We invest in companies that define the future of medicine and patient care.”
Yeung and Kossar couldn’t immediately be reached by Endpoints News.
So far this year, several other biotech investment firms have put together funds of a similar size — between $100 million and $200 million. It’s a wide range of global investors, including Canadian firm Amplitude, Germany-based Earlybird Health, Australia’s Brandon Capital, Italy-focused XGEN Venture, Boulder, CO-based NewVale Capital, Dublin’s Seroba and Invivo in Barcelona, among others.