Jan. 12 Quick Takes: $230M series B for Flagship’s ‘gene writer’ Tessera; plus Elucida, Vedanta, AbbVie-Dragonfly, Primmune

Flagship Pioneering Gene Writing company Tessera Therapeutics Inc. raised a $230 million series B round co-led by Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, Altitude Life Science Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2i, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and undisclosed others. The Cambridge, Mass., company, which emerged from stealth last summer with more than $50 million in venture backing, is developing a suite of gene editing tools based on mobile genetic elements that have the potential to create a broader range of genomic alterations than CRISPR.

Elucida raises $44M to push lead cancer program into clinic
Targeted cancer company Elucida Oncology Inc. raised $44 million in a series A-1 round. The New Jersey-based company’s C’Dot-Drug-Conjugates are formulated to increase the concentration of potent therapies in hard-to-treat tumors with minimal systemic exposure. Its lead program is slated to enter the clinic in 2H21, according to President and CEO Geno Germano.  Elucida, which did not disclose its investors, raised $28 million in an A round in 2018, bringing its total investment to $72 million...