Dive Brief:
- SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals, a startup founded in 2020, said Thursday it has raised $53 million to support its work developing drugs for nerve-destroying disorders.
- Arch Venture Partners and China-based LAV led the equity financing, which also received contributions from new and existing investors. The proceeds, according to SciNeuro, will go toward advancing the company’s slate of drug programs, which target a “range of disease pathways” tied to illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
- Alongside the financing, SciNeuro announced the appointment of Hogan Wan as chief financial officer. Wan brings more than a decade of experience in biopharma corporate finance and investment banking, and most recently served as head of investor relations and strategy at Ascentage Pharma, where he led the process for the cancer drugmaker’s initial public offering.
Dive Insight:
Arch is one of the most prolific backers of young biotechnology companies. A BioPharma Dive database shows it has participated in at least 74 funding rounds since 2022, including 13 in 2025. And that activity is likely to continue, as Arch last year raised another $3 billion to pump into startups.
SciNeuro represents the latest in a string of Arch investments directed at the nervous system, a notoriously challenging area of drug development with even lower rates of success than others. Arch contributed to a $115 million Series C round for Aspen Neuroscience that completed last month, as well as a $200 million haul for Tenvie Therapeutics in January.
At SciNeuro, scientists are trying to create innovative therapies directed at proteins like beta amyloid and LRRK2, the latter of which is strongly linked to Parkinson’s. The company is also supported by a recent $5 million, non-dilutive research grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
The equity financing unveiled Thursday “represents a significant milestone for SciNeuro and demonstrates our commitment to advancing the science behind neurodegenerative disease treatments,” said Min Li, the company’s founder and CEO.
