Seattle-based biotech startup Lumen Bioscience raised a $30 million Series C extension and announced several leadership updates.
WestRiver Group led the latest funding round, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $186.8 million.
The new investment will help Lumen accelerate its pipeline of orally delivered biologic drugs made from genetically engineered spirulina, a type of blue-green algae.
Lumen’s technology platform enables therapeutic proteins — traditionally injected or infused — to be produced and delivered orally in an edible, low-cost form.
The 110-person company is targeting diseases that act in or originate from the gastrointestinal tract. It recently reported promising Phase 2 results from LMN-201, Lumen’s lead candidate for recurrent C. difficile infection.
The company also announced that Jeff Raikes, former Microsoft president and Gates Foundation CEO, joined Lumen’s board as an independent director.
Other personnel updates:
- Erik Anderson, founder and CEO of WestRiver Group, was elected vice chairman of the board.
- Internal promotions include Nhi Khuong to EVP and Kole Krieger to SVP, while Dr. David Saunders, a retired U.S. Army colonel and clinical trialist, joined the clinical development team.
The company has grown its workforce by nearly 40% since 2023 and opened a second manufacturing facility.
Lumen is led by CEO Brian Finrow, a former senior vice president at Adaptive Biotechnologies, and Chief Science Officer Jim Roberts, the former head of basic sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. They co-founded the startup in 2017.
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