Versant, Orbimed lead $65M launch of GIP-focused start-up Helicore

A venture syndicate backing newly launched Helicore believes the company’s GIP antagonist can be part of an approach to obesity that targets subpopulations, rather than a comparatively blunt instrument that maximizes average weight loss.

Versant Ventures and Orbimed Advisors have led the $65 million series A round for South San Francisco-based Helicore Biopharma Inc., with Longitude Capital and Wellington Management also participating. Helicore emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, but has been building operations for about a year since acquiring rights to a GIP-targeting mAb in January 2024. CEO Gerrit Klaerner told BioCentury the company is roughly “midstream into series A spend.”...