Denali's mountain of money
Neurodegenerative disease company Denali Therapeutics Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.) raised $217 million in an untranched series A round -- the second largest series A financing in the industry's history. Investors included Fidelity Biosciences; Arch Venture Partners; Flagship Ventures; the Alaska Permanent Fund (represented by Crestline Investors); and undisclosed sovereign wealth funds, public mutual funds and private family offices.
Denali has three co-founders: Ryan Watts, Alexander Schuth and Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Watts is the company's acting CEO and CSO; he was director of the department of neuroscience at the Genentech Inc. unit of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY). Schuth, Denali's COO, was director and head of neuroscience partnering at Genentech. Tessier-Lavigne, president of Rockefeller University, is the newco's chairman. ...