A biotech born in Minnesota taking aim at cancer’s chaos, it’s the kind of ambition that doesn’t announce itself. Vyriad isn’t chasing headlines, it’s engineering history. The Rochester-based company just closed a $25 million final tranche of its Series B, bringing the round to $85 million and total funding beyond $100 million. Led by Harry Stine of Stine Seed Farms, with backing from Mayo Clinic, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Mirae Asset, and Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund, this isn’t a cash grab, it’s a calculated move to accelerate a biotech on the edge of a breakthrough.
Dr. Stephen J. Russell MD PhD, Co-Founder and CEO, has spent decades turning viruses into precision tools for healing. He’s not theorizing about cures, he’s designing them. Alongside Dr. Kah-Whye Peng PhD, Co-Founder and CTO, whose virus engineering expertise defines Vyriad’s DNA, they’re proving that when biology meets code, medicine evolves from reactive to revolutionary.
Inside their 25,000-square-foot headquarters at the Rochester Technology Center, Vyriad runs an integrated operation, research labs, GMP-certified manufacturing, and clinical trial systems, all tuned for one mission: precision genetic therapy. Their flagship, VV169, an in vivo CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma, reprograms a patient’s T cells inside the body. That’s right, no lab-bound cell manufacturing, no logistical gymnastics. It’s direct reprogramming, elegant and efficient.
Vyriad’s platforms, vesicular stomatitis virus, measles virus, picornavirus, lentiviral vectors, aren’t science fiction, they’re precision-guided delivery systems. The Regeneron partnership fuses Vyriad’s VSV platform with antibody discovery and PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo, while Novartis teams up to advance in vivo CAR T-cell therapies. Add in the Weizmann Institute’s licensed targeting tech, and Vyriad’s building a network that could make the immune system programmable.
Preclinical results speak louder than hype: VV169 achieved 100% tumor clearance in mouse models. If human trials echo that success, the definition of remission might need a rewrite. That’s the quiet power behind Vyriad, making the extraordinary look methodical.
This $85 million round isn’t just validation, it’s momentum. It’s Harry Stine, Mayo Clinic, and Regeneron putting their chips on a company that’s not waiting for the future, it’s coding it, one viral vector at a time.
Startups Startup Funding Venture Capital Series B Biotech Cancer Tech Healthcare Health Tech Technology Innovation Tech Ecosystem Startup Ecosystem DCTalks
