Spotlight: solving CRISPR’s delivery challenges with RNPs
Emerging Company Profile: Spotlight developing tissue-targeted CRISPR therapies with $30M A round led by GV
Spotlight emerged from stealth on Monday with a $30 million series A round led by GV and a platform that could help address the challenge of systemically delivering CRISPR-based gene editing therapies beyond the liver, though the company will first seek platform validation through local delivery applications.
The concept behind Spotlight’s programmable ribonucleoprotein (RNP) delivery technology for CRISPR therapies came from its three academic founders — Alex Marson from the University of California San Francisco, Patrick Hsu from UC Berkeley and Jacob Corn from ETH Zurich — “who recognized the promise of gene editing and the limitation of current delivery methods,” said President and CEO Mary Haak-Frendscho. Haak-Frendscho was previously a venture partner at Versant Ventures and CEO of Blueline Bioscience, Versant’s company creation vehicle in Canada...