When a biotech names itself Helex, it’s not whispering ambitions, it’s making a promise. This New York-based therapeutics company just closed an oversubscribed $3.5M seed round led by pi Ventures, with Bluehill Capital, SOSV, and a global syndicate joining the table. That’s fresh fuel for a mission that doesn’t chase the viral vector trend, it redefines how genetic medicine hits its target. Helex is developing programmable non-viral LNPs that deliver genetic cargo straight to kidney cells, solving a delivery problem most of biotech still sidesteps.
Founded in 2021 by 3 King’s College London alumni, Dr. Poulami Chaudhuri (CEO), Rohini Kalvakuntla (CBO), and Anirudh Nishtala (COO), Helex was born from late-night London collaborations turned lifelong conviction. Dr. Chaudhuri brings deep expertise in non-viral delivery and genetic therapeutics, armed with a PhD in Molecular Biology from King’s and a Cartier 2023 Fellowship. Kalvakuntla, with dual Master’s from King’s and LSE, brings strategic precision and a track record in healthcare pricing and public health. Nishtala blends biotech savvy with business execution, backed by an MSc from King’s and an MBA from ISB. This founding trio doesn’t theorize, they operationalize.
Operating out of New York, Cambridge, and Hyderabad, Helex blends science with strategy. Backed by Bayer Co.Lab and ASPIRE-BioNEST, they’re building from both coasts of innovation. Their flagship Epic-Cure AI platform fuses 3D genome data with deep learning to design kidney-targeted therapies that hit the mark with molecular precision. When paired with their kidney-tropic LNP system, the combo could crack one of medicine’s toughest puzzles, delivering gene therapies where they’re actually needed.
The first target: Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), an inherited condition that hits over 12M people worldwide. The only FDA-approved drug, $Tolvaptan, mostly manages symptoms, and not gently, with side effects like excessive urination and no impact on liver cysts. Helex aims to change the math with a single-dose, curative non-viral therapy that treats the cause, not the chaos.
pi Ventures’ Roopan Aulakh calls Helex’s approach “first-in-class” and “potentially curative.” SOSV’s Stephen Chambers, the firm’s first backer through IndieBio, praised how Helex turned kidney-targeted delivery from hypothesis to clinical opportunity. When Bluehill Capital steps into a round, it’s a signal, deep tech is no longer a niche, it’s the nucleus of biotech’s next evolution.
The $3.5M will drive IND-enabling studies for Helex’s ADPKD therapy, grow its AI platform, and expand the renal pipeline. With lipid expert Dr. Suman Alishetty (ex-AexeRNA, now VP of Drug Delivery) onboard, the science gets even sharper. For the 700M+ people battling chronic kidney disease, this isn’t just another biotech milestone, it’s a pulse of what’s coming next in precision medicine.
