Sift Biosciences Raises $3.7M to Develop Memory T-Cell Immunotherapy Platform for Cold Tumors
核心洞察
Sift Biosciences (搜索) closed an oversubscribed $3.7M pre-seed financing co-led by Freeflow Ventures (搜索) and Lifespan Vision Ventures (搜索) to advance its peptide immunotherapy (搜索) platform.
The UC Berkeley spinout is developing T-cell booster peptides (搜索) that harness infection-trained memory T cells (搜索) to overcome immunogenicity limitations in current cancer treatments.
The company's initial focus targets immunologically cold solid tumors, including microsatellite-stable colorectal and ovarian cancers where patients have limited treatment options.
Sift Biosciences (搜索), a UC Berkeley spinout developing a next-generation peptide immunotherapy (搜索) platform, announced the closing of an oversubscribed $3.7M pre-seed financing round. The funding was co-led by Freeflow Ventures (搜索) and Lifespan Vision Ventures (搜索), with participation from Valuence Ventures, Eisai Innovation (搜索), SBI US Gateway Fund and other early supporters.
The company is building a new class of peptide-based immunotherapies designed to engage pre-existing memory T cells (搜索) to overcome the lack of immunogenicity that limits current cancer immunotherapies. Sift's initial focus targets immunologically "cold" solid tumors, including microsatellite-stable colorectal and ovarian cancers, where patients have few effective treatment options.
Novel Approach to Memory T-Cell Activation
"Most immunotherapies fail not because the immune system is weak, but because it's never meaningfully engaged," said Clare Lou, Ph.D., CEO and Cofounder of Sift Biosciences (搜索). "By harnessing infection-trained memory T cells (搜索), we're developing a platform that can rapidly amplify immune responses in cancers that don't respond to today's treatments."
Sift's platform integrates AI, metagenomics, and high-throughput immune profiling to identify microbial analogs of tumor-associated epitopes (搜索). This approach enables rapid activation of highly responsive memory T-cell populations without requiring de novo immune priming. Early preclinical studies support the potential for faster, more potent, and more durable immune responses than existing approaches.
Platform Technology and Applications
The company's T-cell booster peptides (搜索) are designed to amplify immune responses in cancers and other immune diseases where current therapies fail. Founded in 2024, Sift combines multiple technologies to identify peptides capable of harnessing pre-existing immune memory for faster, safer, and more effective treatments.
Beyond oncology, Sift is exploring applications in autoimmune disease (搜索), where its platform may enable selective expansion of regulatory T cells (搜索) to restore immune tolerance. "Sift's approach reflects a shift toward precision immune modulation by leveraging the immune system's existing memory," said Altar Munis, Ph.D., Associate at Lifespan Vision Ventures (搜索). "The platform's potential across both cancer and autoimmunity makes it especially compelling."
Investment and Development Plans
"Sift is tackling one of the most fundamental challenges in immuno-oncology with a differentiated and biologically grounded strategy," said Kevin Barrett, Managing Partner at Freeflow Ventures (搜索). "Since day one, Clare and the team have had a clear vision for building a scalable platform, and we're excited to support them through this next phase of execution."
Proceeds from the pre-seed round will support in vivo efficacy studies, expansion of Sift's AI-powered peptide discovery engine, and lead candidate selection for its oncology pipeline. The financing enables the company to demonstrate in vivo proof-of-concept and advance its lead programs, with an initial focus on gastrointestinal and gynecologic cancers and an expanding pipeline in autoimmunity.