Pasadena Biotech Terray Raises $60 Million to Speed Up Drug Discovery

Keerthi Vedantam

Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

Pasadena Biotech Terray Raises $60 Million to Speed Up Drug Discovery
After three years in stealth mode, a Pasadena biotech startup has emerged with $60 million and, it believes, a new way to create drugs.

Terray Therapeutics launched on Tuesday with $60 million in Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group. A handful of other venture firms also participated in the round, including Pasadena-based Alexandria Venture Investments. Terray had previously raised an unannounced $20 million seed round led by Digitalis Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures—two firms that also invested in the Series A.

The company specializes in AI-enabled drug discovery—a massive emerging market not only for pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca, but also the likes of IBM and Google. The area is promising; AI can cut down the time it takes to create a drug, enabling more rapid innovation and potentially faster turnaround times to get therapeutics to the people who need them. As well as AstraZeneca, major pharma companies like Pfizer and Genentech have also partnered with smaller companies deploying AI-enabled techniques, with the aim of creating successful drugs that are less likely to fail in clinical trials.

Terray Therapeutics’ computational discovery platform analyzes chemical compounds, puts together different combinations, and assesses which compounds are promising for a specific drug candidate. Most importantly, the platform continually reassesses these compounds based on how well they perform.

“Even the most powerful artificial intelligence can’t get past insufficient or unclear data,” Terray CEO Jacob Berlin said in a statement. “Current chemical data lacks the scale and quality to enable AI-driven drug development. We’re building a future where the speed, precision and scale of our engine enable us to predictably create drugs that meet urgent patient needs.”

The biotech firm said the new funding will go toward advancing its preclinical pipeline and its partnerships.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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