Bionaut Labs, a company that uses tiny robots to revolutionize the treatment of central nervous system diseases and disorders, announced $43.2M in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures, bringing the company’s funding raised to $622,000. Also participating in the round are new investors Deep Insight, OurCrowd, PSPRS, Sixty Degree Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, GISEV Family Ventures, Ko kana Ventures, Tintah Nyasha and Gaingels, as well as all existing investors – Upfront Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Revolucion. VC, and Combination.
Many diseases of the brain and central nervous system are difficult to treat because it is difficult to deliver treatments outside the blood-brain barrier and reach the deep areas of the brain properly. Through magnetic propulsion, Bionauts ™ can travel deep within the human body to deliver drugs locally, creating efficacy and avoiding the side effects and toxicity of systemically delivered drugs. By reaching the center of the brain safely with new methods, Bionaut Labs aims to develop solutions for the most complex treatments including Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease, malignant glioma, and hydrocephalus.
The money will be used to advance the clinical development of the company’s leading programs against malignant glioma brain tumors and Dandy-Walker Syndrome (a rare pediatric neurological disease). The funding will also support the continued development of its Bionaut™ therapeutic platform, allowing for future expansion of clinical targets and progress through Bionaut’s two additional FDA designations. Bionaut Labs will release large pre-clinical data packages from IDE and IND enabling studies in 2023, with the goal of starting human clinical trials in 2024.
“There has been a dearth of innovation around treatments for conditions that cause tremendous suffering, in large part because past failures have discouraged even the best of researchers. Bionaut Labs remains committed to finding new ways to treat these devastating diseases, which are long overdue for a breakthrough.”
Michael Shpigelmacher, co-founder and CEO, Bionaut Labs
Bionaut Labs was founded by Michael Shpigelmacher and Aviad Maizels, two robotics entrepreneurs who previously founded PrimeSense, the company that developed the facial recognition technology behind FaceID for the iPhone. Its management and medical team consist of experts in robotics, neuroscience, biology, and drug development.
“We are extremely excited about the potential revolution that Bionaut can bring to the treatment of severe neurological disorders,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “Precise anatomical treatments are making traditional methods obsolete, and Bionaut is at the forefront of this movement.”
“Bionaut Labs is tackling a complex pharmaceutical problem that many companies have not been able to solve before,” said Giammaria Giuliani, Director of the GISEV Family Office. “As a pioneer in micro-robotics for CNS care, the company has a first-mover advantage and a lot of promise.”
As the prevalence of neurodegeneration increases in the world’s aging population, Bionaut Labs is providing unprecedented treatments for the brain and other hard-to-reach areas of the body, diagnosing and treating diseases that were previously inaccessible. Bionaut Labs is revolutionizing the way the biopharmaceutical industry develops therapies by providing the tools to turn therapeutic evidence of efficacy and safety into reality.
About Bionaut Labs
Bionaut Labs is a biotechnology company that pioneers precision microtechnology by deploying tiny robots to overcome barriers to local treatment and disease detection. Magnetic propulsion-controlled Bionauts travel to deep areas in the human body and brain safely and precisely through non-linear 3D trajectories, making Bionaut Labs the first to access the midbrain through a previously inaccessible anatomical method. Bionauts can perform local therapy, imaging, and specific medical procedures to deliver results that were previously unattainable. The FDA granted Bionaut Labs Humanitarian Use Device designation for BNL-201, a small robot designed to treat Dandy Walker Malformation, and Orphan Drug Designation for BNL 101, a combination drug to treat glioma.