HexemBio Raises $15.5M to Advance Stem Cell Rejuvenation Platform Into Three Product Generations
核心洞察
HexemBio (搜索) has raised $15.5 million in total funding, with new investor Happiness Capital (搜索) joining lead backer Draper Associates (搜索) and existing investor Boost VC (搜索).
The company's Synthetic Human Yolk Sac (搜索) platform rejuvenates a patient's own aged blood stem cells by briefly returning them to a lab-recreated developmental environment.
The first-generation cell therapy for bone marrow transplant improvement holds FDA Orphan Drug Designation and targets first-in-human trials in 2027.
HexemBio (搜索), a longevity and AI discovery company developing regenerative therapies for aging blood stem cells, announced a three-generation product line built on its synthetic biology platform, supported by $15.5 million in total funding. New investor Happiness Capital (搜索) joined the round alongside additional capital from lead investor Draper Associates (搜索) and existing backer Boost VC (搜索).
The Berkeley- and New York City-based company, founded in 2024, has built its pipeline on a technology called the Synthetic Human Yolk Sac (搜索), a lab-recreated version of the developmental environment where a person's first blood-forming stem cells arise before birth. The approach takes a patient's own aged hematopoietic stem cells, exposes them briefly to that environment outside the body, then reinfuses them, aiming to restore regenerative capacity the cells had earlier in life. According to the company, the platform has been published in Nature, with additional manuscripts under review, and HexemBio (搜索) has filed 17 patent applications worldwide, two of which have been granted.
Lead Program Targets Bone Marrow Transplant Outcomes
The first-generation program is a cell therapy that rejuvenates a patient's own blood stem cells rather than replacing or reprogramming them. It targets improvement of bone marrow transplantation in patients with blood disease (搜索) — a procedure the company describes as grueling and, for a meaningful share of patients, not fully restoring normal blood cell production afterward.
HexemBio (搜索) received Orphan Drug Designation for the program from the FDA in July 2025 and completed its Pre-IND meeting with the agency in January 2026. The company is targeting first-in-human trials in 2027.
"Our first generation product and lead program for transplants is still the main priority to get into human clinical trials for 2027," said Gabriel Levesque Tremblay, CEO and co-founder of HexemBio (搜索). "Our goal is to create accessible therapies that extend healthy years."
Injectable and Skin Programs Extend the Platform
A second-generation product is an injectable designed to carry defined signals from the same developmental environment without requiring a patient's cells to be collected and processed outside the body first. It is being developed for patients who could benefit from restored stem cell function but who fall outside the transplant setting altogether, and it is currently in advanced preclinical development.
A third-generation product aimed at enhancing and protecting skin is in its final phase of development, with what the company describes as an aggressive go-to-market strategy.
Eric Ng, also CEO of the company, framed the funding around a broader mission: "We are excited by HexemBio (搜索)'s approach to targeting the foundational drivers of aging, which will help people extend their healthspan and deliver benefits that resonate across generations."
Investor Rationale and Biological Premise
Draper Associates (搜索), the round's lead investor, backs early-stage science, with recent investments in companies working on artificial wombs and de-extinction alongside earlier bets on Tesla, SpaceX, Coinbase, Robinhood and Colossal.
"We invested in HexemBio (搜索)'s first therapy, and we are thrilled with their progress," said Tim Draper, founding partner at Draper Associates (搜索). "The team has been outstanding. Their fundamental breakthrough technology has expanded into three new product categories, maybe more to come."
The company's premise rests on the biology of hematopoietic stem cells — the cells that give rise to every type of blood and immune cell in the body — which decline in both number and quality with age. That decline has been linked to weaker immune responses, higher rates of blood disorders, and slower recovery from illness generally. By coaxing those cells back toward a more youthful state, even briefly and outside the body, HexemBio (搜索) is targeting what it describes as one of the more upstream mechanisms in the aging process rather than treating downstream symptoms.
The transplant program will be the first test of whether that approach holds up in a person rather than in a dish. According to the company, its machine learning capabilities were used to identify a defined molecular recipe that rejuvenates aged hematopoietic stem cells.