Funding in Focus: Week 40'24
Will we get obesity under control and make cancer less frightening? And will software engineers still have a promissing future? Read about what Poolside, Kailera Therapeutics, and Aktis Oncology are up to.
Will we get obesity under control and make cancer less frightening? And will software engineers still have a promissing future? Read about what Poolside, Kailera Therapeutics, and Aktis Oncology are up to.
Tom here! 👋 You’re reading Funding in Focus —my newsletter where we bring into focus some of the most notable VC deals that happened last week.
The top 3 of the deals that happened last week are:
So let's dive deeper what these companies are up to.
Poolside's hero area reads:
Poolside is building next generation AI for software engineering.
In simple terms, the solution Poolside offers helps software engineers become more productive. This is a competitive space, with players like Claude.ai, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Microsoft’s Copilot.
Poolside’s vision is to lower the barrier to entry in various fields, beyond software, for more people. They explain this in three steps on their vision page.
Currently, Poolside is in step 1, helping software engineers become more productive and/or more capable.
Kailera Therapeutics is developing therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Here are some key facts from the World Health Organization (source):
Let these facts sink in, and you'll realize the alarming health burden society faces if this trend continues. It goes without saying that the total addressable market for Kailera Therapeutics is already enormous and will grow in the near term.
There are already competing therapies on the market, with one receiving significant media coverage last year—Ozempic. Kailera has developed an injectable currently in phase 2 clinical trials, where the key question is, 'Does drug X improve disease Y?'
So when might Kailera's solution be on the market? It will likely take several years, as phase 3 involves large-scale testing, and only 25-30% of drugs that pass phase 2 successfully complete phase 3 (source).
The Aktis Oncology team is pioneering the discovery and development of a new class of targeted radiopharmaceuticals to treat a broad range of solid tumors.
The difference between solid an liquid tumors:
A solid tumor is a mass of solid cancer cells that grows in organ systems and can appear anywhere in the body, like breast cancer. Liquid tumors, on the other hand, are cancers that develop in the blood, bone marrow, or lymph nodes, and include leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. (source)
Aktis Oncology's unique advantage is their ability to better locate solid tumors and more precisely time the delivery of radiopharmaceuticals. Their solution is engineered to target tumors more accurately and gradually reduce activity, leaving more healthy cells intact.
Aktis Oncology has seven research programs, and at least one is in a clinical stage, meaning phase 1 or above. I couldn't find the exact status of the programs, unlike with Kailera Therapeutics.
Two of the three largest funding rounds were in the health sector (pharmatech and biotech), which is particularly exciting for me as I come from a digital background, making this an area outside my usual experience.
Obesity and cancer are two of the biggest health challenges of our time, and most people have likely felt their effects either directly or indirectly. With Kailera advancing one of their products into phase 3 trials and Aktis raising $175 million for their solid cancer treatment, I feel optimistic about a future where obesity can be better managed, and cancer may become a less terrifying diagnosis.
However, the largest VC deal last week went to Poolside, which is digitally focused. I have already seen within my software circle how AI has transformed software development and will continue to do so. Poolside’s step 2, where they aim to 'allow anyone to build software by making AI-led, human-assisted interactions the next abstraction for building software,' will be transformative for the world but will also have an impact on the software engineering job market. I believe step 2 is very achievable because AI can already handle basic application development, it will be a matter of time that most people can develop their own software applications.
However, software engineering goes beyond just writing code. You have to consider scalability, database design, user experience, and more. I strongly believe there will still be a very promising future for software engineers, perhaps even more than they already do, but the role may suit fewer people as the bar will be raised.
This was the Funding in Focus for week 40. I'm excited to see what next week will bring.
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Venturestack is written by me, Tom Tholen, a Dutchman 🇳🇱 in my early thirties. I have spent nearly a decade working in product management across diverse roles and environments.
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If you'd like to get in touch, I'm currently building my X account, so that's the best place to reach me.
