Santa Ana Bio emerges from stealth with $168 million financing

First launched in 2022, US precision immunology company Santa Ana Bio yesterday emerged from stealth with $168 million in combined Series A and B funding.

Founding investor Versant Ventures led the Series A round and was joined by TPG’s Life Science Innovations fund and GV. The $125 million Series B round was led by GV, with participation from all existing investors as well as new investors Access Biotechnology, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health and RTW.

Whie the vast majority of biologics for autoimmune disease target cytokines, which are the messengers but not the causal agents, Santa Ana explains that it employs proteomic, transcriptomic and genomic approaches to precisely characterize disease-specific subpopulations and identify targets only on disease-causing cell types leaving healthy cells unaffected. This approach addresses the shortcomings of current biological treatments, including patient heterogeneity, durability of response and safety.