Centivax, a biotech firm developing vaccines and therapies for long-lasting, universal protection against diverse targets, announced it has closed an oversubscribed $45 million Series A funding round. Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures led the round. Investors also included NFX, BOLD Capital Partners, Base4 Capital, Kendall Capital Partners, Amplify Partners, and more. Existing insiders increased their stakes.
The funds will support Centivax’s first clinical candidate, a universal flu vaccine in CMC development, for a Phase I trial expected to start within eight months. The trial will assess safety and measure efficacy using the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay, the gold standard for licensing flu vaccines, against over twenty flu strains—including current, historic mismatch, and pandemic strains—in direct comparison with standard flu vaccines. Positive results could demonstrate broad protection with a single vaccine.
Beyond the universal flu program, Centivax’s epitope-focused platform enables a pipeline targeting RSV/hMPV, herpesviruses, HIV, malaria, cancer, and a universal antivenom. This diverse pipeline demonstrates the technology’s potential to combat a broad range of infectious diseases—encompassing viral, bacterial, protozoan, fungal, parasitic, and bioterror threats—as well as to enhance healthspan by reducing long-term complications, such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative conditions.
Headed by CEO and founder Dr. Jacob Glanville, previously of Distributed Bio (acquired by Charles River Labs in 2020), the team includes Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jerald Sadoff, who led vaccine development at Johnson & Johnson, Merck, WRAIR, and AERAS, resulting in 14 approved vaccines, and Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder Dr. Sawsan Youssef, who exited Distributed Bio in 2020 and contributed to Pfizer’s clinical-stage drug sasanlimab. Co-founder and Chief Business Officer Stephanie Wisner, MBA, formerly of ARCH Venture Partners, authored Building Backwards to Biotech. The leadership also features Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Gusti Zeiner, COO and co-founder David Tsao, and CTO and co-founder Dr. Nicholas Bayless.
Emilio Emini, PhD—former CEO of the Gates Medical Research Institute, director of Gates Foundation HIV and TB programs, and ex-SVP of Vaccine R&D at Pfizer and Merck—joins the board. He played a key role in developing vaccines like Prevnar for pneumococcal disease.
Along with venture funding, Centivax secured $24 million from non-dilutive awards, including a $2 million Grand Challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, complemented by awards from CEPI, NIH, the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Command, among others.
KEY QUOTES:
“Future Ventures is proud to lead Centivax’s Series A with a great syndicate of co-investors. I have been on a quest to find a credible antiviral breakthrough for over 20 years. I first became enamored with the prospect of a universal vaccine via our philanthropy. Centivax has developed a universal shot for all forms of flu, and they have already demonstrated their universal immunity platforms in other areas, including universal antivenom. Their unique approach will hopefully lead to a historic transition to a post-pandemic era for humanity.”
Lead investor Steve Jurvetson
“The Phase I trial gives us the opportunity to prove the Centivax platform technology works. We can demonstrate that the Centivax technology directs the immune system to focus on regions of pathogens that do not change across strains. This is valuable not just in flu, but for all rapidly mutating pathogens and other difficult targets in our portfolio.” In preclinical studies in ferrets, pigs, cows, mice, rats, and human immune organoids, the Centivax technology consistently induced universal immunity to all tested influenza viruses, including the 2024-2025 H5N1 ‘bird flu.’”
Dr. Jerald Sadoff, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Centivax
“Vaccines are already doing this. The Gardasil vaccine, which our CMO played a key role in developing, reduced the national incidence of multiple cancer types, and was, in effect, an anti-cancer vaccine. The Zostavax vaccine, which our CMO also spearheaded, has been recently demonstrated to reduce Alzheimer’s and heart disease. We believe that universal vaccines can take us further.”
“Universal vaccines won’t just be safer, more reliable, and more convenient medicine—their commercialization will end the pandemic era. I am particularly excited to partner with Steve Jurvetson at Future Ventures due to his track record of new industry formation based on disruptive technology. This financing positions us to deliver on the U.S. government’s stated goal of a universal influenza vaccine within five years and to extend our platform to other high-impact diseases that needlessly weigh on our medical systems and our lives.”
Dr. Jacob Glanville, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Centivax
“I very much look forward to working with the Centivax team as a member of the company’s Board. Centivax’s approach to the design and development of a truly universal influenza vaccine is unique and creative. As such, the approach has considerable potential for successfully achieving a goal that has proven elusive to date.”
Dr. Emini, PhD
“In today’s financing climate, we are proud to have assembled an exceptional syndicate of investors and an exceptional team, both of which have an impressive track record of bringing breakthrough technologies to market. This funding carries us through first-in-human studies—a value-inflection point that will catalyze the next phase of growth for Centivax and move the first universal flu vaccine one step closer to market.”
Co-founder and Chief Business Officer Stephanie Wisner
