CapeHaven, LLC, a New Haven-based venture creation platform, has completed a first close of funding toward a USD 10 million target, with capital drawn from individual and institutional investors, as it moves to translate early-stage Yale University discoveries into fundable therapeutics companies.
The company did not disclose the names of investors participating in the first close or the amount secured in this initial tranche. CapeHaven said proceeds will support expansion of its scientific and venture creation team, evaluation of early-stage therapeutic opportunities from academic laboratories, and the launch of Brainstorm Cancer Therapeutics, an oncology-focused discovery company. No prior funding rounds have been publicly disclosed, making this the company's first confirmed capital raise.
CapeHaven was founded by Ranjit Bindra, M.D., Ph.D., Seth Herzon, Ph.D., Kevin Rakin, and Mike Dillon, Ph.D. Bindra holds the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professorship in Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine and serves as Co-Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center. Herzon is the Milton Harris '29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. The team's stated focus is on identifying high-potential therapeutic concepts within the Yale ecosystem and advancing them through early scientific validation and company formation.
Bindra and Rakin have worked together for more than two decades and have collectively founded or invested in more than a dozen New Haven-area biotechnology companies, including Arvinas, Halda Therapeutics, Cybrexa Therapeutics, Evolve Immune, and Alphina Therapeutics. The founders said these efforts have helped attract more than USD 1 billion in capital to the New Haven biotech sector and produced multiple IPOs and strategic exits. Most recently, the team sold Modifi Bio to Merck for up-front and milestone payments of up to USD 1.3 billion.