On April 22, 2024, Rubedo Life Sciences, a Sunnyvale, CA-based biopharmaceutical company committed to developing first-in-class therapies targeting senescent cells that drive age-related diseases, closed a $40M Series A financing round. The round was led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from Hevolution, R42, Modi Ventures, Cerigo Investments, Shanda Group, Refactor Capital, LongeVC, Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), and other investors. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Rubedo on the transaction.

The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead candidate RLS-1496 in chronic atopic dermatitis and chronic psoriasis, which will be entering Phase 1 studies. Rubedo is also developing therapies for pulmonary diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Rubedo’s approach targets senescent cells which can accumulate over time and cause chronic inflammation, leading to fibrosis and tissue degeneration. The company’s drug discovery platform, ALEMBIC™, identifies pathologic cells like these to develop targeted therapeutics that can prevent or reverse the resulting age-related diseases.

The team that advised Rubedo on the transaction included:

Corporate
Ken Clark
Christina Poulsen
Kimball Smith
Kym Tisder
Alison Sechrest
Eric Abram

Technology Transactions
Farah Gerdes
Lillian Li

For more information, please see Rubedo’s press release.