Sept. 7 Quick Takes: Arch-backed Orbital launches with RNA platform

Backed by Arch Venture Partners, a16z Bio + Health and Newpath Partners, Orbital Therapeutics Inc. launched Wednesday to develop RNA therapeutics and vaccines with better durability and deliverability than previously possible. Counting former Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) CEO John Maraganore among its eight co-founders, Orbital said it won’t develop RNAi therapies, but intends to pursue protein replacement, immunomodulation and regenerative medicines. The newco’s other co-founders are Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) President and CSO Giuseppe Ciaramella, who is serving as Orbital’s interim CEO; Arch’s Kristina Burow and Carol Suh; Stanford University’s Ravi Majet and Howard Chang; Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania; and Gene Yeo of the University of California San Diego. Orbital did not disclose the amount of money it has raised.

Arpeggio Biosciences will use its newly raised A round, led by Builders VC, to further develop its preclinical pipeline of transcriptional regulators, following a $3.2 million seed round in 2020. Arpeggio’s platform identifies a molecule’s effects across the entire transcriptome and uses machine learning to reconstruct the biological networks it affects and match it to relevant diseases. The company said it has contracted with more than 40 biopharmas to assess diverse classes of molecules. The series A round was supported by seed investors Khosla Ventures, TechU Ventures, FundersClub, Alice Zhang and Fifty Years, along with new investors Tencent, ATEM Capital, Formic Ventures, Tau Ventures, Milad Alucozai of BoxOne Ventures and Matthew De Silva of Longtail Capital. ...