bit.bio clears the way for next phase of growth

The synthetic biology company, which provides human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy, is working to ensure that the $30 million it raised in mid-December provides a springboard to further global growth and doesn’t prove a sticking plaster exercise.

Directors have come and gone in a head-spinning month or so but we are reassured that this is not so much down to a night of the long knives as a few weeks of rearranging the cutlery!

Przemek Obloj, who was named as new CFO at the end of July last year, is Interim CEO after a boardroom reshuffle and told Business Weekly: “We’re currently going through a strategic realignment to position bit.bio for continued success. This follows our recent round of financing, which has strengthened our foundation and evolved our board leadership.”

No answer was forthcoming on whether a search for a permanent CEO has been launched but you can pretty much take that as read.

Serial entrepreneur Dr Jonathan Milner, co-founder of the iconic Cambridge life science business Abcam, had been named interim CEO on December 9 but his appointment – which officially began on January 6 this year – was terminated on February 5. He declines to comment.

Inspirational former CEO Mark Kotter said he was taking a Vice Chairman role on the board to help shape the future growth vision and made the point that “Jonathan was not only the first investor in bit.bio but also my first business mentor.”

He added: “As part of our next phase of growth, I will work closely with Jonathan and the team to help shape bit.bio’s future and establish bit.bio as the leading provider of human cells for research, drug discovery and the preferred partner for iPSC-derived cell therapies.”

That soon went south but Obloj adds: “Jonathan’s recent involvement has been invaluable in helping our team refine our future direction and we’re deeply grateful for his strategic input.”

In what I am assured was a bloodless revolution in the boardroom in January the directorships of Dr Hermann Hauser, Nobel Prizewinner Sir Greg Winter, Jonathan Milner and Weslie Janeaway were all terminated.

Over three months from early November to early February, director appointments were confirmed for Corneliu Chiriac – an investment director with M&G Crossover Fund, focusing on late-stage investments in technology and science globally – Ms Keying Xi and Dr Richard Klausner. This latter appointment has proved a talking point given Rick’s track record of biotech germination rather than termination.

No-one at bit.bio is talking about being acquired so another offbeat theory can presumably be parked, although one can see why speculation of a potential takeover of bit.bio by Altos Labs was mooted to Business Weekly. Dr Klausner is co-founder, chief scientific adviser and Board co-chair at Altos Labs – the anti-ageing firm founded on the back of billions of dollars by Jeff Bezos and working at Granta Park. Mark Kotter is chair of clock.bio whose vision is to increase human healthspan by developing novel treatments in the anti-ageing space.

Dr Klausner is a seasoned biotech entrepreneur: he has co-founded several leading biotech companies, including GRAIL, Juno Therapeutics, and Lyell Immunopharma, and has held senior executive positions at Illumina and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

As former director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr Klausner was instrumental in advancing CAR-T therapy and shaping the nation’s cancer research agenda.

The $30m fundraise by bit.bio in December quelled other rumours: In the latest available bit.bio accounts audited by PwC (YE Dec 2023), it stated that the company only had cash to see it to January 31, 2025.

The $30m raise appeared to crush that particular wing of the rumour mill although a large amount of ongoing funding to enable the company to achieve its global ambitions in good time would still appear to be required. That last round was led by M&G Investments, with participation from ARCH Venture Partners, BlueYard Capital, Milky Way, Puhua Capital and Tencent.

Leading players involved with bit.bio don’t want to comment on the record about recent events but one former director tells me there is no question of the company struggling financially or being lined up as acquisition fodder by US-centric enterprises in the immediate future.

The ex-director told me: “There has been lots of turmoil but the business is well financed and stable as an independent company for now. The technology is outstanding and will succeed.” The words ‘for now’ may prove prophetic.

• bit.bio won the Life Science Innovation category of the Business Weekly Awards last September.