Funding profile · Neuroscience AI

Verge Genomics

Two announced equity rounds totaling $130 million, one Form D on record, an unannounced Series C visible only in a lender’s books, and a mark that fell 58 percent the quarter after the lead drug failed.

$130.0MAnnounced equity: $32M Series A in 2018 and $98M Series B in 2021
$85.0MSold under the only Form D on record, filed Jan 11, 2022
44Investors in that offering, about $1.93M each
$1.27MHercules Capital mark on its stake at Jun 30, 2026, on $1.50M cost

Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
2015 Y Combinator, Summer 2015 Not disclosed Y Combinator YC data
Jul 2018 Series A $32.0M DFJ led; WuXi AppTec Corporate Venture Fund, ALS Investment Fund, Agent Capital, OS Fund Independent
Jul 2021 Lilly ALS collaboration $25.0M upfront, up to $694M in milestones Eli Lilly Independent
Dec 2021 Series B $98.0M announced; $85.0M on the Form D BlackRock funds led; Lilly, Merck GHI, Section 32, Vulcan Capital, Threshold Ventures, ALS Investment Fund, Tao Capital, Lifeforce Capital Form D and release
Sep 2023 Series C preferred Not disclosed. No Form D filed Hercules Capital bought 208,588 shares for $1.5M on Sep 6, 2023; Alexion also took equity that month Form 10-Q
Sep 2023 Alexion collaboration Up to $42M in upfront, equity and near term payments; up to $840M in milestones Alexion, AstraZeneca Independent
Mar 2024 Ferrer ex US license, VRG50635 More than 112.5M euros in combined upfront and milestones Ferrer Independent
Jul 2025 SAFE $103,000 from the one holder that reports Hercules Capital Form 10-Q

What the filings show

Verge Analytics, Inc. · Form D · filed Jan 11, 2022

First sale
Jul 2, 2021
Offered
$84,999,865 equity
Sold
$84,999,865 · $0 remaining
Investors
44 · average about $1,931,815
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Commissions
$0 sales commissions, $0 finders fees
Related persons
Alice Zhang (officer, director); Emily Melton, Stephen Kanes, Andrew Allen (directors); Jane Rhodes, Robert Scannevin (officers)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001894889. The only filing under this CIK

Hercules Capital, Inc. · Form 10-Q · filed Jul 30, 2026

Position
Verge Analytics, Inc., Preferred Series C, 208,588 shares, acquired Sep 6, 2023
Cost
$1,500,000 · about $7.19 per share
Marks
Dec 31, 2023: $1,753,000 · Dec 31, 2024: $1,519,000 · Dec 31, 2025: $2,382,000 · Mar 31, 2026: $999,000 · Jun 30, 2026: $1,268,000
Second position
SAFE dated Jul 2, 2025, cost $103,000, carried at $103,000
No debt
No loan to Verge appears in any Hercules schedule, Sep 2023 to Jun 2026
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001280784

Reading the filings

  1. The checks were institutional.$84,999,865 from 44 investors is about $1,931,815 each, consistent with the named list: BlackRock funds, two pharma balance sheets and a set of venture firms, not a crowd of angels.
  2. The announcement and the filing differ by $13.0 million.The release said $98 million. The Form D reports $84,999,865 offered, the same sold, nothing remaining. The gap is $13,000,135, or 13.3 percent. No amendment has been filed to reconcile it, and the likely explanation, part of the round moving outside Regulation D, is not stated anywhere.
  3. The money arrived five and a half months before the press release.First sale July 2, 2021. Announcement December 16, 2021. The Form D was filed January 11, 2022, which is 193 days after the first sale; Regulation D calls for 15. That first sale falls in the same month as the Lilly collaboration.
  4. A later round left no Form D at all.Hercules records buying Series C preferred on September 6, 2023, and Alexion took equity that month. Nothing appears on EDGAR: the company’s CIK holds exactly one filing. A raise under Section 4(a)(2) needs no Form D, so the silence is legal and that round’s size stays unknown.
  5. The lender’s mark tracks the trial, quarter by quarter.Hercules carried the Series C stake at $2,382,000 on December 31, 2025, then $999,000 on March 31, 2026, a cut of 58.1 percent in one quarter. That quarter is the one in which the ALS program was dropped. The mark recovered to $1,268,000 on June 30, 2026, after the Verge Labs relaunch, still 15.5 percent below the $1,500,000 cost. Per share the path runs $11.42, then $4.79, then $6.08, against a $7.19 basis.
  6. A $103,000 SAFE is not a round.Hercules booked a SAFE dated July 2, 2025, carried at cost. For a company that had raised $130 million, a sum that size from an existing holder reads as a top up while the Phase 1b was reading out, not a priced financing.
  7. Most of the $1.6 billion in partnerships is contingent.Disclosed cash at signing is $25 million from Lilly, up to $42 million from Alexion in upfront, equity and near term payments across four years, and an undisclosed Ferrer upfront. The rest is milestones, and the one program that reached patients was dropped.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Clinical assets None. VRG50635 was dropped in December 2025 after a terminated Phase 1b. Public record
Product vBx-1.0, a foundation model previewed through CONVERGE, Jun 16, 2026. Company-stated
Customers Tenacia Biotechnology, named Jun 9, 2026 as the first platform partner. Terms and revenue not disclosed. Company-stated
Headcount About 90 percent of staff let go around the pivot. Independent
Ferrer license Reported to be in limbo after the program was dropped, with no comment from either side. Unresolved
Market comparables cited The company cites Lilly paying Chai about $30M over three years, GSK and Noetik at $50M over five, and AstraZeneca paying Tempus AI $150M for data licensing. Company-stated

What to watch

  • A Form D or reported round for the platform business. Nothing filed since January 2022.
  • The Hercules mark at September 30, 2026, due in the third quarter 10-Q.
  • Whether the Ferrer license is terminated, amended or quietly left in place.
  • Any disclosed contract value from the platform, the only revenue line the company now has.

The Verge Genomics story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • Comprehend Systems: Shared investor: Hercules Capital. A Y Combinator company that sold software for watching clinical trials while they were still running
  • PostEra: Shared investor: Lifeforce Capital. An AI chemistry company that gave its most famous work away for free
  • Synapticure: Shared investor: Lifeforce Capital. A virtual specialty clinic for ALS, Parkinson’s and dementia, built by an ALS patient and his caregiver
  • Notable Labs: Shared investor: Lifeforce Capital. A blood cancer company that screened drugs against a patient’s own cells to predict who would respond, in-licensed a shelved Boehringer Ingelheim compound, reached

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D, Verge Analytics, Inc., CIK 0001894889SEC EDGAR · Jan 11, 2022
  2. Public recordHercules Capital consolidated schedules of investments, Verge Analytics linesSEC EDGAR · Nov 2, 2023 to Jul 30, 2026
  3. IndependentVerge signs on Merck, Lilly for nearly $100M oversubscribed roundFierce Biotech · Dec 16, 2021
  4. IndependentAstraZeneca taps a genomics biotech and its AI technologyBioPharma Dive · Sep 8, 2023
  5. IndependentFerrer signs $122M biobucks deal for ex-US licenseFierce Biotech · Mar 25, 2024
  6. IndependentVerge Genomics drops sole clinical candidateFierce Biotech · Dec 18, 2025
  7. IndependentVerge, following trial failure, rebrands its AI drug discovery ambitionsBioPharma Dive · May 27, 2026
  8. CompanyVerge Genomics Secures $98 Million in New FinancingBusiness Wire · Dec 16, 2021
  9. CompanyWhy We’re Becoming Verge LabsVerge Labs blog · May 27, 2026
  10. CompanyVerge Labs website, partnership figuresAccessed Sep 22, 2026

Compiled from SEC and other public records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date. Fair value marks reported by Hercules Capital are that lender’s estimates for its own position, not a valuation of the company. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Verge Genomics. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.