Feng Zhang Delivers with $193M Launch of Aera Therapeutics

Aera Therapeutics, a Boston, MA-based biotech company that has developed a delivery platform to shuttle gene-based medicines into the body, has emerged out of stealth, raising $193 million in combined Series A and B financings.

The funding was led by life sciences investors ARCH Venture Partners, GV and Lux Capital.

Aera itself was founded in 2021 and is based around a delivery platform from the lab of Feng Zhang, Ph.D., a world-renowned synthetic biology and functional genomics expert who works at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

“The advancement of delivery technologies has lagged the rapid evolution of payload technologies, limiting the broad application of genetic medicines,” said Akin Akinc, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Aera.

The company also holds a prestigious roster of board members, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ former president Vicki Sato, Ph.D., with Alnylam’s founding and former CEO John Maraganore, Ph.D., as chairperson.

The newly emerged company, which currently has about 50 employees, is looking to increase head count by 30 this year – somewhat of an anomaly during a prolonged bear market rife with biotech layoffs.