Kanvas Biosciences announced it raised a $48 million Series A financing round to advance microbiome therapeutics designed to improve immunotherapy outcomes for cancer patients. The financing was co-led by existing investors DCVC and Lions Capital LLC, with participation from Gates Foundation, ATHOS KG, Germin8, Ki Tua Fund, Pangaea Ventures, and additional investors.
The company said the new funding brings its total capital raised to $78 million and will support clinical trials for KAN-001, its lead immuno-oncology drug candidate, along with commercial partnerships leveraging its spatial imaging and manufacturing platform for live biotherapeutic product development.
Kanvas Biosciences develops microbiome therapeutics using spatial biology technologies that map microbial and host cells to better understand microbiome interactions and manufacture complex live biotherapeutic products. The company said its platform addresses longstanding challenges involving microbiome visualization, engraftment monitoring, and scalable manufacturing.
KAN-001 is designed for cancer patients who do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. According to Kanvas, while more than half of solid organ cancer patients receive immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, only around 10% achieve complete responses. The company said KAN-001 demonstrated safety and efficacy across multiple mouse models and tumor types and is intended to address limitations associated with fecal microbiota transplant therapies.
Kanvas also announced preparations are underway for patient recruitment in a Phase 1 clinical trial for KAN-004, an immuno-oncology drug candidate targeting immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis.
Additional recent milestones included investment support from Gates Foundation for development of a synthetic microbiome replacement product addressing maternal environmental enteric dysfunction, the addition of Stanford University professor Stephen Quake to the board, and development of the Kanvas Spectral Lightsheet microscope designed to generate spatial biology data for the company’s AI platform.
Kanvas Biosciences is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, and its technology was originally developed at Cornell University.
KEY QUOTES:
“I began my career as a physician and always dreamed of being able to develop new drugs that could help the patients I hadn’t been able to treat with existing therapies. Most physicians never get the opportunity to realize this dream, so it’s an incredible privilege to bring Kanvas’ technology to the broader LBP market and begin conducting clinical trials of our lead drug candidate, which offers a new way to improve the therapeutic efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for cancer patients.”
Matthew Cheng, Co-Founder And CEO, Kanvas Biosciences
“Creating a brand new microscope capable of collecting spatial biology data at unprecedented scale and quality is a testament to Kanvas’ deep engineering prowess and relentless commitment to unlocking the gut microbiome as a distinct organ that can be safely modified using microbial-based drugs. Kanvas’ ability to generate novel data about host-microbiome interactions is fueling powerful AI models that are helping the company design new cancer treatments, nutritional supplements and even gastrointestinal restoration products for animals.”
Jason Pontin, General Partner, DCVC And Chair Of The Board, Kanvas Biosciences
