Caribou gains $30m funding for CRISPR-Cas platform

Genetic engineering specialist Caribou Biosciences has secured $30 million in a series B funding round.

New investors Anterra Capital, Heritage Group, Maverick Capital Ventures, and Pontifax AgTech join a long list of existing investors, including pharma giant Novartis.

"We are delighted to have the support of such an esteemed group of new and current investors, and view the calibre of the participants as further validation of the potential of our CRISPR-Cas genome engineering platform to transform the development of new medical therapies and bio-based products," said Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D., president and chief executive and co-founder of Caribou.

"The proceeds from this financing will enable us to continue to expand our industry-leading CRISPR gene editing technology platform and accelerate our efforts in highly promising application areas in agriculture, therapeutics, biological research, and industrial biotechnology."

The CRISPR-Cas platform is already a hotly contested market with many pharma companies and biotechs racing to develop the first therapy based on the technology. To date, Novartis – with whom Caribou is collaborating – AstraZeneca, Vertex, and Bayer have all launched CRISPR-Cas projects, amongst others.

As part of the funding, Philip Austin, Founding Partner at Anterra Capital, has joined the company's Board of Directors, representing the Series B investor.

"Caribou's CRISPR-Cas platform offers unparalleled precision and speed of genome engineering. This technology is already leading to novel ways of treating previously incurable human diseases. We see the same transformative potential in agriculture," remarked Mr. Austin.