Trio of large, crossover-backed rounds lead week’s deals

Three of the year’s largest venture rounds came this week, and all have the hallmarks of crossover rounds ahead of a potential IPO.

Alumis Inc. raised the year’s biggest round. The immune-mediated disease company will deploy the $259 million it raised in its series C round to take TYK2 inhibitor ESK-001 into Phase III testing for psoriasis this year and support ongoing Phase II trials in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and uveitis. The biotech said it would also use the new capital to advance A-005, a brain-penetrant TYK2 inhibitor, into the clinic to treat neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases...