A stealthy new biotech based in the Bay Area has raised millions in funding, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Legally known as Moonwalk Biosciences, the company has raised just shy of $50 million but is targeting closer to $57 million, according to the filing.
Twenty-four investors participated in the round, including three who reside outside of the U.S., the document says, but exactly who those investors are remains undisclosed.
A representative for Moonwalk said that the document was not accurate but declined to provide additional details.
Moonwalk incorporated in 2022, according to state registration filings. And the SEC document lists Moonwalk's current location at 2 Tower Place in South San Francisco.
The company's executive officers are listed as Alexander Aravanis and Arash Jamshidi, and its president as Justin Keller Valley.
Aravanis and Jamshidi look to be former Grail and Illumina executives who have previously worked together.
In 2015, Aravanis co-founded Grail where Jamshidi was a senior vice president of data sciences from 2016-2021, according to LinkedIn.
Prior to Grail, Aravanis was a senior director of research and development at Illumina from 2013-2016, and overlapped with Jamshidi who was a associate director of research during that time.
Aravanis returned to Illumina in 2020 for three years where he assumed the chief technology officer role.
It's unclear what exactly Moonwalk is developing. However, Illumina and Grail are known for their work in genetic sequencing and cancer diagnostics.
Illumina attempted to acquire Grail for $8 billion, but European Union regulators fined Illumina over the deal earlier this year and ultimately ordered the company to unwind the acquisition, which it agreed to do in December.
