Ambrosia Biosciences, a drug discovery company, secured $15.96 million in Series A funding it will use to establish its research labs in Boulder, the company said Tuesday.
The funding round was led by San Francisco-based BVF Partners and Boulder-based Boulder Ventures. Primary proceeds will be used to scale up Ambrosia Bioscience's lab operations and drug discovery programs, the company said in a news release.
Recent changes in Boulder’s biotech scene have led to the current staff at Ambrosia, “With the recent shut down of the Pfizer/Array R&D facility here in Boulder, we have re-assembled the Array medicinal chemistry team at Ambrosia to apply that same expertise to obesity,” said Kyle Lefkoff, founding partner at Boulder Ventures and executive chairman of Ambrosia.
Lefkoff previously led investments in Array Biosciences, a Boulder biotech that Pfizer acquired in 2019. Pfizer announced this spring that it would shut down its Boulder operations.
Nick Traggis, president and founder at Ambrosia, said his company has hired roughly 15 of the scientists from the original Array group, in an interview with the Denver Business Journal.
The company’s initial discovery and development attempts will focus on orally delivered drugs designed to target obesity and other metabolic disorders, the company said.
Traggis described the weight-loss drug discovery space as “very active,” and said there is “significant science yet to be understood.”
“I’m proud of the work our founding science team has already done and look forward to using this financing to scale up our drug discovery efforts,” he said.
Traggis previously served as CEO for LightDeck Diagnostics which sold to the Heska Corporation. It was while working at LightDeck that Traggis said he built a relationship with Lefkoff.
Ambrosia will be his first foray into drug development.
