Kallyope Valuation, Funding & Investors
Kallyope is valued at $1.3B as of February 2022.
Last Kallyope valuation
$1.3B
Series D · Feb 2022
Last Kallyope funding round
$236M
Series D · Feb 2022
Cumulative funding Kallyope raised
$479M
across 5 funding rounds
Key investors in Kallyope
The Column Group
Lux Capital
Alexandria Venture Investments
Polaris Partners
Illumina Ventures
Two Sigma Ventures
About Kallyope
Kallyope is a New York City-based biotech company developing gut-brain axis therapeutics for metabolic and neurological disorders. Founded in 2016, it raised $330 million in funding and employs 150 scientists from Rockefeller University and Pfizer. Its pipeline includes KGX323 for obesity in Phase 1 trials and candidates for IBS and migraine, using single-cell sequencing of 1 million gut neurons.
Founded
2015
HQ
New York City, NYWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$1.3B (Feb 2022)
Sectors
Kallyope Valuation
Kallyope is currently valued at $1.3B, based on its Series D in February 2022.
The $236M round was led by Mubadala and The Column Group.
Kallyope valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Series D | $1.3B |
Kallyope Funding History
Kallyope has raised a total of $479M across 5 funding rounds.
Kallyope's first fundraising round was a $44M Series A in December 2015. The most recent completed round was a $236M Series D in February 2022.
Kallyope funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | Series D | Mubadala (lead); The Column Group (lead) | $236M | $1.3B | Kallyope is a New York-based biotechnology company founded in 2015 by Charles Zuker, Tom Maniatis, and Richard Axel, focusing on therapeutics and drug discovery targeting the gut-brain axis for metabolic, gastrointestinal, and CNS conditions. The company advances oral agents using technologies like sequencing, bioinformatics, neural imaging, cellular and molecular biology, and human genetics. As of 2022, its programs were in preclinical or early clinical stages, with 70-80 employees and leadership including CEO Jay Galeota and R&D head Nancy Thornberry. In February 2022, Kallyope raised $236 million in a Series D round co-led by Mubadala Investment Company and The Column Group, with participation from investors like Alexandria Venture Investments, Lux Capital, and Polaris Partners. This brought total funding to around $487 million across six rounds. The round was notable as one of biotech's top 2022 raises amid a tough market, originally planned as an IPO but pivoted to private financing. The company's last known post-money valuation was $1.27 billion as of 2022. Subsequent developments included an $8.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2023 for environmental enteric dysfunction interventions and a partnership with Sosei Heptares (now Nxera Pharma) for GI disease targets. Kallyope remains at Series D stage with no reported revenue, ARR, or EBITDA metrics near the round date. |
| Mar 2020 | Series C | Illumina Ventures; Greenspring Associates; The Column Group; Alexandria Venture Investments; Casdin Capital; Polaris Partners; Lux Capital; Bill Gates; Euclidean Capital; Two Sigma Ventures | $112M | - | Kallyope is a biotechnology company focused on identifying and developing therapeutics targeting the gut-brain axis, the communication mechanisms between the gut and brain. The company designs oral small-molecule drugs that selectively target the gut to treat disorders in gastrointestinal, central nervous system, and inflammatory disease areas, targeting novel neural and hormonal circuits including vagal circuits. In March 2020, Kallyope announced a $112 million Series C financing round to advance its portfolio of programs and support its first clinical trials. The round was led by returning investors The Column Group, Lux Capital, Polaris Partners, Euclidean Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Illumina Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Bill Gates, with new investors Casdin Capital and Greenspring Associates joining, along with two unnamed leading institutional investors. CEO Nancy Thornberry, a former Merck executive with specialty in diabetes and endocrinology, stated that the company was entering its fourth year and had built a portfolio of programs directed at novel targets across a wide array of diseases. By the time of the Series D financing in February 2022, the company had raised approximately $480 million total across five rounds and had over 20 programs and molecules in its pipeline. |
| Dec 2018 | Series B | Bill Gates (lead); Illumina Ventures; The Column Group; Alexandria Venture Investments; Polaris Partners; Lux Capital; Euclidean Capital; Two Sigma Ventures | $21M | - | Kallyope, a New York City-based biotechnology company founded in 2015 by Columbia University researchers Charles Zuker, Tom Maniatis, and Richard Axel, focuses on therapeutics targeting the gut-brain axis for metabolic, gastrointestinal, neurological, and inflammatory disorders using its proprietary Klarity platform. The company launched with $44M in Series A funding in December 2015 from investors including Polaris Partners, Lux Capital, Illumina Ventures, The Column Group, and Alexandria Venture Investments. In 2018, Kallyope expanded its Series B financing by $21M led by Bill Gates, with participation from all prior investors, bringing total equity raised to $131M at that point to advance programs toward clinical development. The specified May 2018 round matched the investors listed (Alexandria Venture Investments, Bill Gates, Euclidean Capital, Illumina Ventures, Lux Capital, Polaris Partners, The Column Group, Two Sigma Ventures), confirming it as the $21M Series B expansion. Kallyope later raised a $112M Series C in early 2020 from the same core group plus new investors like Casdin Capital and Greenspring Associates (now StepStone Group), supporting first clinical trials. Overall, Kallyope has raised approximately $479-487M in equity plus grants, including an $8.2M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Kallyope advanced programs like K-757 into Phase 2 for obesity by 2023, exploring an IPO while backed by prominent investors including Mubadala and Hartford Healthcare Endowment. |
| Feb 2018 | Series B | Lux Capital (lead); Illumina Ventures; The Column Group; Alexandria Venture Investments; Polaris Partners; Euclidean Capital; Two Sigma Ventures | $66M | - | Kallyope, a New York-based biotechnology company, develops therapeutics targeting gut-brain axis communication to treat metabolic, gastrointestinal, and central nervous system disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. The company launched in 2015 with a $44 million Series A round from investors including Lux Capital, Polaris Partners, The Column Group, Illumina Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others. Kallyope's Series B financing began with a $66 million tranche closed in February 2018, led by Lux Capital and including Polaris Partners, Illumina Ventures, Euclidean Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, The Column Group, and Alexandria Venture Investments. This round supported advancing drug programs toward human clinical trials and expanding the gut-brain axis research platform. Later in 2018, Kallyope extended its Series B with an additional $21 million, backed by Bill Gates and all prior investors including Illumina Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, bringing the total Series B to $87 million. Cumulative equity raised reached $131 million by the extension close. Kallyope continued raising capital in subsequent years, including Series C in 2020 and Series D in 2022, reaching over $487 million total funding. |
| Dec 2015 | Series A | Illumina Ventures; The Column Group; Alexandria Venture Investments; Polaris Partners; Lux Capital; Anthony Evnin | $44M | - | Kallyope Inc. launched in December 2015 as a New York City-based biotechnology company focused on harnessing the potential of the gut-brain axis to develop therapeutics and consumer nutritional products. The company was founded by three renowned scientists: Charles Zuker, Ph.D., Tom Maniatis, Ph.D. (Lasker Award winner), and Richard Axel, M.D. (Nobel laureate). CEO Nancy Thornberry, a former Merck senior vice president with expertise in diabetes and endocrinology, led the company. The founding team leveraged cutting-edge technologies including single-cell sequencing, optogenetics, neural imaging, and bioinformatics to understand gut-brain biology and develop novel therapeutic approaches targeting obesity, metabolic disorders, and neurological conditions. Kallyope announced a Series A financing of $44 million, led by Lux Capital, Polaris Partners, and The Column Group, with additional participation from Illumina Inc., Alexandria Venture Investments, and Dr. Tony Evnin. The company established headquarters at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in Manhattan, a collaborative life science campus designed to provide access to the city's talent pool and research resources. As a platform biotechnology company emerging from stealth, Kallyope positioned itself as a pioneer in the then-nascent field of gut-brain axis science, with CEO Thornberry highlighting early focus areas including obesity and metabolic disorders, as well as compounds restricted to the gut that could affect behavior and metabolism. The company's founding scientific team represented exceptional credentials, including three Nobel laureates, two Lasker Award winners, and several members of the National Academies. |
Who has invested in Kallyope?
12 investors have backed Kallyope across its funding rounds, including The Column Group, Lux Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Polaris Partners, Illumina Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures.
Lead investors include Mubadala, The Column Group, Bill Gates and Lux Capital.
Kallyope Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 5 | Lead | Dec 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 4 | Participant | Dec 2015 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 4 | Participant | Dec 2015 | |
| Boston, MA | 4 | Participant | Dec 2015 | |
| New York City, NY | 4 | Lead | Dec 2015 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Euclidean Capital | New York City, NY | 3 | Participant | Feb 2018 |
| New York City, NY | 3 | Participant | Feb 2018 | |
| Bill Gates | Seattle, WA | 2 | Lead | Dec 2018 |
| Baltimore, MD | 1 | Participant | Mar 2020 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | Mar 2020 | |
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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialKallyope Competitors
Kallyope competitors include listed companies like Aktis Oncology, GNI Group, Celltrion Pharm and MeiraGTx, and private ones like Belief BioMed and Brickell Biotech.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Publicly listed | $6M | ($72M) | $1.3B | 61.0x | |
 Japan | Publicly listed | $173M | ($15M) | $1.3B | 5.6x | |
 South Korea | Publicly listed | $390M | $55M | $1.3B | - | |
 United Kingdom | Publicly listed | $81M | ($91M) | $1.3B | 4.6x | |
 Shanghai | Private | - | - | $1.3B | - | |
| Miami, FL | Private | - | - | $1.3B | - |
Kallyope Public Comps
Kallyope is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Aktis Oncology, GNI Group, Celltrion Pharm, MeiraGTx, Chengdu Easton, Vor Biopharma, Harrow, Maze Therapeutics, Liaoning Chengda Biotech and Sawai Group Holdings.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $6M | ($72M) | 117.6x | 61.0x | (10.6x) | - | |||
| $173M | ($15M) | 7.6x | 5.6x | (87.9x) | 644.2x | |||
| $390M | $55M | 3.3x | - | 23.3x | - | |||
| $81M | ($91M) | 15.0x | 4.6x | (13.4x) | - | |||
| $199M | $57M | 5.2x | 5.0x | 18.2x | 17.4x | |||
| - | ($699M) | - | - | (1.2x) | (3.6x) | |||
| $272M | $42M | 5.4x | 4.4x | 34.3x | 20.2x | |||
| - | ($140M) | - | 66.5x | (6.8x) | (5.6x) | |||
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Common questions about Kallyope
| When was Kallyope founded? | Kallyope was founded in 2015. |
| Where is Kallyope headquartered? | Kallyope is headquartered in New York City, NY, United States. |
| Is Kallyope publicly listed? | No, Kallyope is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Kallyope's valuation? | Kallyope was last valued at $1.3B in its Series D in February 2022. |
| How much funding has Kallyope raised? | Kallyope has raised $479M across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was Kallyope's last funding round? | Kallyope's last funding round was a $236M Series D in February 2022, led by Mubadala and The Column Group. |
| Who are Kallyope's investors? | Kallyope's investors include The Column Group, Illumina Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, Polaris Partners, Lux Capital, Euclidean Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Bill Gates, Greenspring Associates, Casdin Capital and 2 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Kallyope? | Companies comparable to Kallyope include Aktis Oncology, GNI Group, Celltrion Pharm, MeiraGTx, Belief BioMed and Brickell Biotech. |
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