Funding profile · Cancer immunotherapy

Asher Bio

Three announced equity rounds totaling $218 million, from Third Rock, Wellington and RA Capital, with AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb on the cap table. The SEC record accounts for $163.5 million of it.

Data as of September 23, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

What the filings show

Reading the filings

1. The Series A left no trace at the SEC.Asher announced $55 million in March 2021, led by Third Rock. There is no Form D between September 2019 and September 2021. Announced equity totals $218.0 million; the filings account for $163,489,965, or $490,000 plus $107,999,975 plus $54,999,990. The $54.5 million gap is the Series A almost exactly. A company raising under Section 4(a)(2) rather than Regulation D files no Form D, so the gap does not mean the money is missing.
2. Check sizes shrank by 30 percent between rounds.Series B: $107,999,975 across 22 investors, about $4,909,090 each. Series C: $54,999,990 across 16 investors, about $3,437,499 each. Six investors fewer, each writing about $1.47 million less.
3. The seed was mostly unsold.The 2019 filing offered $3,000,000 and reported $490,000 sold to eight investors, about $61,250 apiece, leaving $2,510,000 unsold. No amendment was ever filed to close it out. The founders were the only related persons, which fits a pre-institutional company.
4. Both odd round numbers are dollars short.$107,999,975 and $54,999,990 are $108 million and $55 million minus rounding to whole shares, which is what a priced preferred round looks like. Neither filing reports a remaining amount, so both closed in full.
5. The board grew, then two potential acquirers bought in.Related persons went from 2 in 2019 to 6 in 2021 to 10 in 2024, adding Ian Clark, Bob Deresiewicz and Elaine Sun as directors. The Series C names AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb as new investors. Nine months later AstraZeneca and Amgen signed supply agreements on the lead drug. Bristol Myers Squibb, which owned the failed bempegaldesleukin program, has announced no trial.
6. Nothing has been filed for two and a half years.The last Form D is dated April 16, 2024, thirteen days after the first sale and inside the fifteen day window. Since then a second molecule has entered the clinic and two partner-run trials have opened. Either the company is living on the Series C, or it has raised outside Regulation D again.
7. No investment vehicles formed around it.A full-text Form D search on the company name returns only its own three filings. No special purpose vehicle, no named syndicate.

Commercial signals

What to watch

• A Form D for a Series D. The last filing is from April 2024 and the clinical program has grown since.
• Whether AstraZeneca or Bristol Myers Squibb converts equity into a licensing deal with disclosed economics.
• Registration of the announced AstraZeneca Phase 1b/2 in non-small cell lung cancer, which has not appeared on ClinicalTrials.gov.
• Primary completion of the lead trial, estimated August 2026, and whether a randomized study follows.

The Asher Bio story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

• YourChoice Therapeutics: Shared investor: Ra Capital. A San Francisco company developing YCT-529, an oral non-hormonal male contraceptive licensed from the University of Minnesota
• Ansa Biotechnologies: Shared investor: Ra Capital. An enzymatic DNA synthesis company in Emeryville that sells the genes other vendors decline
• Pardes Biosciences: Shared investor: Ra Capital. A COVID-19 pill drawn up in the first weeks of the pandemic, taken public through a blank check company, and stopped after a single Phase 2 trial
• Synapticure: Shared investor: Ra Capital. A virtual specialty clinic for ALS, Parkinson’s and dementia, built by an ALS patient and his caregiver

Sources

1. Public recordForm D, Asher Biotherapeutics, Inc., accession 0001787260-24-000001SEC · Apr 16, 2024
2. Public recordForm D, Asher Biotherapeutics, Inc., accession 0001787260-21-000003SEC · Sep 7, 2021
3. Public recordForm D, Asher Biotherapeutics, Inc., accession 0001787260-19-000001SEC · Sep 5, 2019
4. Public recordClinicalTrials.gov NCT05653882, NCT07027488, NCT07037758, NCT07300475Accessed Sep 23, 2026
5. IndependentAsher Bio snags $108M series B for immunotherapy programs, push into the clinicFierce Biotech · Sep 1, 2021
6. IndependentAsher drops 60% of staff as immunotherapy biotech zeroes in on lead candidateFierce Biotech · Dec 19, 2023
7. CompanyAsher Bio Launches with $55 Million Series A Financing Led by Third Rock VenturesBusiness Wire · Mar 23, 2021
8. CompanyAsher Bio Closes $108 Million Series B FinancingBusiness Wire · Sep 1, 2021
9. CompanyAsher Bio Closes $55 Million Series C FinancingAsher Bio · Apr 16, 2024
10. CompanyClinical supply agreements with AstraZeneca and with AmgenBusiness Wire · Jan 7 and Jan 8, 2025
11. CompanyAsher Biotherapeutics Announces Two Presentations at the ASCO 2026 Annual MeetingGlobeNewswire via BioSpace · May 21, 2026

Compiled from SEC, ClinicalTrials.gov and other public records and published reports as of September 23, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date and may not capture later sales. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Asher Bio. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.