Cerevance Valuation, Funding & Investors

Cerevance is valued at $116M as of February 2023.

Last Cerevance valuation

$116M

Series B · Feb 2023

Last Cerevance funding round

$20M

Series C · May 2026

Cumulative funding Cerevance raised

$210M

across 6 funding rounds

Key investors in Cerevance

  • Lightstone Ventures
  • GV
  • Dementia Discovery Fund
  • UPMC Enterprises
  • Gates Frontier Fund
  • Foresite Capital

Cerevance Overview

About Cerevance

Cerevance is a Cambridge, UK-headquartered biotechnology company developing precision medicines for neurodegenerative diseases including ALS, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. The firm utilizes its Nuclear Receptor Interaction Classification platform, built from expression data across more than 15,000 human brain samples, to prioritize CNS targets. Cerevance has advanced CVN424 into Phase III trials for Parkinson's and CVN293 into Phase II for ALS. Backed by investors like Biogen and Takeda, the company operates R&D facilities in the UK and United States, focusing on therapies that address disease progression.


Founded

2016

HQ

United StatesBoston, MA

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Product sales

Valuation

$116M (Feb 2023)

Cerevance Valuation

Cerevance is currently valued at $116M, based on its Series B in February 2023.

The $51M round included Lightstone Ventures, GV, Takeda Ventures, Foresite Capital, UPMC Enterprises and 3 other investors.

Cerevance valuation by funding round

Cerevance valuation by funding round
DateStageValuation
Feb 2023Series B$116M

Cerevance Funding History

Cerevance has raised a total of $210M across 6 funding rounds.

Cerevance's first fundraising round was a $22M Series A in December 2016. The most recent completed round was a $20M Series C in May 2026.

Cerevance funding rounds

Cerevance funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
May 2026Series CLightstone Ventures; GV; Double Point Ventures; MQB Partners; UPMC Enterprises; Gates Frontier Fund; Dementia Discovery Fund$20M-Cerevance closed an oversubscribed $20 million Series C financing on May 12, 2026, supported by strong participation from existing investors including the Dementia Discovery Fund managed by SV Health Investors. The equity financing extends the company's cash runway into mid-2027. The financing coincides with completion of enrollment in the pivotal Phase 3 ASCEND trial for solengepras in Parkinson's disease, reinforcing investor conviction in Cerevance's clinical strategy for CNS disorders. Cerevance operates as a private drug discovery and development company focused on brain diseases including dementia and Parkinson's, with prior financings including a $65 million Series B in 2020 and initial Series A commitments exceeding $41 million since launch in December 2016. Investors have included GV, Bill Gates, Takeda Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, Casdin Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Foresite Capital, and Lightstone Ventures.
Apr 2024Series BAgent Capital (lead); Bioluminescence Ventures (lead); Double Point Ventures (lead); Lightstone Ventures; LifeRock Ventures; GV; MQB Partners; Gates Frontier Fund$47M-Cerevance is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia, using its proprietary Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq) platform to identify novel targets. Its lead candidate, CVN424, is a first-in-class, oral, non-dopaminergic therapy targeting GPR6, which showed significant efficacy in a Phase 2 study for Parkinson’s and is advancing to a Phase 3 trial expected to start in the second half of 2024. The pipeline also includes CVN293 for neuroinflammation in ALS, Alzheimer’s, and frontotemporal dementia, with Phase 1 data anticipated in 2024. On April 25, 2024, Cerevance announced an initial closing of $47 million in its Series B-1 extension financing, led by Agent Capital, Bioluminescence Ventures, and Double Point Ventures, adding to the prior $51 million Series B-1 for a total of $98 million. Participants included new investors MQB Partners and LifeRock Ventures, plus existing ones like Gates Frontier Fund, GV (Google Ventures), and Lightstone Ventures. Board additions were Campbell Murray from Agent Capital and Kouki Harasaki from Bioluminescence Ventures. Proceeds will fund the Phase 3 trial for CVN424 and advance other CNS programs. This extension follows a February 2023 Series B expansion to $116 million total, supported by Gates Frontier, Dementia Discovery Fund, Foresite Capital, GV, Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, and Dolby Family Ventures, for trials in Parkinson’s, ALS, and schizophrenia. Earlier, a January 2023 Series A raised undisclosed funds from Takeda and Lightstone Ventures. Cerevance has collaborations with Merck and Takeda for CNS target discovery and out-licensing.
Feb 2023Series BLightstone Ventures; GV; Takeda Ventures; Foresite Capital; UPMC Enterprises; Dolby Family Ventures; Gates Frontier Fund; Dementia Discovery Fund$51M$116MCerevance is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s, using its proprietary Nuclear Enriched Transcript Sort sequencing (NETSseq) platform to identify selectively expressed target proteins in diseased brains from over 12,000 human post-mortem samples. On February 13, 2023, Cerevance expanded its Series B financing with an additional $51 million from investors including Gates Frontier Fund, Dementia Discovery Fund, Foresite Capital, GV (Google Ventures), Lightstone Ventures, Takeda Ventures, UPMC Enterprises, and Dolby Family Ventures, bringing the total Series B to $116 million; proceeds support upcoming clinical trials in Parkinson’s, ALS, and schizophrenia. The company has collaborations, including out-licensing a discovery-stage program to Merck and a research partnership with Takeda for CNS targets in GI disorders; prior Series B elements included $45 million in April 2020 expanded to $65 million in July 2020. Cerevance advanced its pipeline with CVN424 for Parkinson’s reaching Phase 3 preparation by 2024, following later extensions like a $47 million Series B-1 in April 2024 led by Agent Capital, Bioluminescence Ventures, and Double Point Ventures, totaling $98 million for that extension and bringing overall Series B to $163 million.
Apr 2020Series BLightstone Ventures; GV; Takeda Ventures; Casdin Capital; Bill Gates; Foresite Capital; UPMC Enterprises; Dolby Family Ventures; Dementia Discovery Fund$65M-Cerevance is a private, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, particularly brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, and schizophrenia, using its proprietary NETSseq platform to profile neuronal and glial cell populations from post-mortem human brain tissue samples for target discovery. Cerevance's approach differentiates it by generating unprecedented transcriptional and epigenetic data from human brains, enabling precision therapeutics. The company closed its Series B financing on April 14, 2020, raising $45 million from new investors including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Bill Gates, and Foresite Capital, plus existing investors Takeda Ventures, Dementia Discovery Fund, and Lightstone Ventures. On July 21, 2020, it expanded the round by $20 million to a total of $65 million, with participation from new investors UPMC Enterprises, Casdin Capital, and Dolby Family Ventures, and additional investment from Foresite Capital. Proceeds fund identification of novel therapeutic targets and advancement of a diverse pipeline of programs against CNS diseases with high unmet needs. Post-2020, Cerevance continued expanding the Series B with additional closings in 2023 ($51 million, total $116 million) and 2024 ($47 million Series B-1 extension), but these involve different investors and later dates. The company has collaborations like out-licensing to Merck and research with Takeda, and its lead asset CVN424 showed efficacy in a Phase 2 Parkinson’s trial.
May 2017Series ADementia Discovery Fund (lead); SV Health Investors (lead); Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Lightstone Ventures$5M--
Dec 2016Series ALightstone Ventures (lead); Takeda Pharmaceuticals (lead)$22M-Cerevance, a neuroscience company focused on discovering and developing novel therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric disorders, launched on December 2, 2016, with $36 million in total funding, including a $21.5 million Series A financing from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Lightstone Ventures. The company received a 25-person neuroscience research team from Takeda's Cambridge, U.K. site, fully equipped laboratory space, licenses to preclinical and clinical-stage drug programs, and access to a new technology platform from Nathaniel Heintz's lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Rockefeller University. Lightstone Ventures and Takeda each joined the board, with Lightstone leading the Series A. Mark Carlton, formerly of Takeda Cambridge, headed the company, which operated sites in the U.K. and Massachusetts. The funding supported Cerevance's efforts to advance treatments for central nervous system diseases using the NETSseq platform for transcriptional and epigenetic profiling of brain cells. Subsequent investments included $5 million from the Dementia Discovery Fund, bringing total commitments over $41 million. Cerevance's launch exemplified Takeda's strategy to externalize promising CNS programs and scientists amid site closures and a shift toward leveraging external innovation in areas like GI, oncology, vaccines, and CNS.

Who has invested in Cerevance?

17 investors have backed Cerevance across its funding rounds, including Lightstone Ventures, GV, Dementia Discovery Fund, UPMC Enterprises, Gates Frontier Fund and Foresite Capital.

Lead investors include Agent Capital, Bioluminescence Ventures, Double Point Ventures, Dementia Discovery Fund, SV Health Investors and 2 other investors.


Cerevance Investors

Investors in Cerevance by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Lightstone VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA6LeadDec 2016
GVUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA4ParticipantApr 2020
Dementia Discovery FundUnited KingdomLondon4LeadMay 2017
UPMC EnterprisesUnited StatesPittsburgh, PA3ParticipantApr 2020
Gates Frontier FundUnited StatesDenver, CO3ParticipantFeb 2023
Takeda PharmaceuticalsJapanTokyo2LeadDec 2016
Takeda VenturesUnited StatesSan Diego, CA2ParticipantApr 2020
Double Point VenturesUnited StatesWest Palm Beach, FL2LeadApr 2024
MQB PartnersNew ZealandAuckland2ParticipantApr 2024
Foresite CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantApr 2020
Dolby Family VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantApr 2020
LifeRock Ventures--1ParticipantApr 2024
SV Health InvestorsUnited StatesBoston, MA1LeadMay 2017

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Cerevance Competitors

Cerevance competitors include listed companies like Sensorion and Kanaph Therapeutics, and private ones like Asceneuron, Bioxodes, Longyao Biotech and SciFluor Life Sciences.

Public and private companies comparable to Cerevance
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
AsceneuronSwitzerlandLausannePrivate--$116M-
BioxodesBelgiumMarche-en-FamennePrivate--$116M-
Longyao BiotechChinaShanghaiPrivate--$116M-
SciFluor Life SciencesUnited StatesBoston, MAPrivate--$116M-
SensorionFranceFrancePublicly listed-($34M)$115M11.1x
Kanaph TherapeuticsSouth KoreaSouth KoreaPublicly listed$4M($23M)$117M23.2x

Cerevance Public Comps

Cerevance is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Sensorion, Kanaph Therapeutics, Genelux, Nanexa, Milestone Pharmaceuticals, Captor Therapeutics, Equillium, Coya Therapeutics, Aardvark Therapeutics and Easywell Biomedicals.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Sensorion-($34M)-11.1x(1.8x)(1.2x)
Kanaph Therapeutics$4M($23M)20.8x23.2x(3.7x)-
Genelux$8K($33M)12305.9x43188.9x(3.0x)(3.7x)
Nanexa$4M$385K29.5x-282.6x-
Milestone Pharmaceuticals$2M($62M)2.2x1.1x(0.1x)-
Captor Therapeutics$1M($10M)82.1x11.3x(10.2x)(23.3x)
Equillium-($23M)--(2.8x)-
Coya Therapeutics$8M($21M)8.6x22.9x(3.2x)-

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Common questions about Cerevance

When was Cerevance founded?Cerevance was founded in 2016.
Where is Cerevance headquartered?Cerevance is headquartered in Boston, MA, United States.
Is Cerevance publicly listed?No, Cerevance is a private, VC-backed company.
What is Cerevance's valuation?Cerevance was last valued at $116M in its Series B in February 2023.
How much funding has Cerevance raised?Cerevance has raised $210M across 6 funding rounds.
What was Cerevance's last funding round?Cerevance's last funding round was a $20M Series C in May 2026.
Who are Cerevance's investors?Cerevance's investors include Lightstone Ventures, GV, Dementia Discovery Fund, UPMC Enterprises, Gates Frontier Fund, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Ventures, Double Point Ventures, MQB Partners, Foresite Capital and 7 others.
Which companies are comparable to Cerevance?Companies comparable to Cerevance include Asceneuron, Bioxodes, Longyao Biotech, SciFluor Life Sciences, Sensorion and Kanaph Therapeutics.

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