Kizoo portfolio company Revel Pharmaceuticals has raised $8.4M in Seed financing. The oversubscribed round was led by Kizoo Technology Capital and Starbloom Capital with participation from Tubus LLC. The funds will support Revel as it advances its repair-based enzyme therapy pipeline towards the clinic.
Kizoo said that today, enzymes are applied therapeutically in only a handful of applications, including for lysosomal storage disorders (Cerezyme), cancer (Asparaginase), and cystic fibrosis (DNase). Revel Pharmaceuticals is reimagining how enzymes can be used as therapeutics by developing repair-based approaches to aging and disease.
One root cause of aging are the toxic chemical byproducts of metabolism that build up on the long-lived collagen proteins giving our bodies structure. These toxic byproducts build up in the body over time, driving inflammation, stiffening tissues, and leading to increased systolic blood pressure, kidney damage, and increased risk of stroke and death, the company explained. Revel is developing designer enzymes to precisely remove and repair this damage from aging.
“Revel’s enzyme discovery and engineering platform leverages nature’s chemical toolkit – enzymes – to repair collagen”, said Dr. Aaron Cravens, cofounder and CEO at Revel. “Collagen is the infrastructure of our bodies, supporting cellular function and health. Applying enzymes to repair decades of damage to this infrastructure is a logical way to go about reversing age-related disease. With this funding, we are equipped to drive our therapeutic pipeline towards the clinic and ultimately help patients.”
“Revel is leading innovation in repair-based approaches to aging”, says Patrick Burgermeister, Partner at Kizoo Technology Capital and board member of Revel Pharmaceuticals. “We are thrilled to lead this round and continue supporting the expansion of Revel’s pipeline of enzymatic-repair and crosslink-breakers. The enzyme therapies being developed at Revel will reverse aspects of aging by repairing damage that accumulates as we age.”