Pinetree Therapeutics took both and built a future around them. The Cambridge-based startup just locked in a $47M Series B, the kind of raise that doesn’t just pad a runway, it extends a revolution. Founded in 2019 by Hojuhn Song, Ph.D., a former Novartis scientist with a taste for solving the unsolvable, Pinetree isn’t chasing trends. It’s going after the targets the rest of oncology wrote off as “undruggable.”
The company’s AbReptor™ platform is where science stops playing nice. Multispecific antibody-based degraders capable of targeting membrane and extracellular proteins, basically, the places traditional drugs can’t reach. It’s not theory anymore; they’ve got AstraZeneca already on board with a global license deal for their EGFR degrader, a partnership worth >$500M in potential milestones. When the giants come knocking this early, it’s not luck. It’s precision.
The $47M Series B closed with backing from DSC Investment, STIC Ventures, Smilegate Investment, and a stacked roster of returning and new investors like Korea Investment Partners and SV Investment. That’s not just capital, it’s validation from both sides of the Pacific. Cambridge science meets Seoul money. That’s a cross-continental flex most startups can only dream about.
Under the hood, Dr. Hojuhn Song runs a tight lab with serious intellectual firepower. Chief Scientific Officer Steve Gillies, Ph.D., a veteran of EMD Lexigen, knows how to take antibodies from theory to clinic. Chief Financial Officer Josh Blacher, MBA, brings Wall Street discipline from his years steering NASDAQ-listed biotechs. And with scientific advisors like Paul Rennert of Aleta Biotherapeutics and oncology legend Pamela A. Trail, Ph.D., Pinetree’s bench depth rivals its science.
Series B funds will fuel IND-enabling studies, push their lead cancer degrader into Phase I trials, and expand their D-ADC and trispecific platforms. It’s not just about another molecule; it’s about cracking the code of resistance itself. Pinetree isn’t trying to be the next Genentech, it’s carving a lane between precision biology and raw invention.
Here’s the thing about trees, they grow quietly, then suddenly they own the skyline. Pinetree Therapeutics just proved the biotech canopy’s got a new contender, rooted deep in science and built to reach where others can’t.
