Versant’s new immunology biotech Santa Ana Bio snags Series A with GV, TPG partners on board

Prolific biotech investor Versant Ventures is brewing another startup, this time immunology player Santa Ana Bio, whose board includes partners from GV and TPG.

On its website, the California biotech says it has recently closed a Series A financing. An SEC filing from last month outlined plans for a $70 million round after seeking a $42 million equity raise in 2021.

The company, led by CEO Peter Emtage, declined an interview and said it will come out of stealth later this year.

Jerel Davis

Details are sparse so far, but the biotech’s board includes Emtage; Versant’s Tom Woiwode and Jerel Davis; TPG’s Shinichiro Fuse, who was at MPM until 2021; and GV’s Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, according to SEC filings.

Versant has been involved with many other startups, including BlueRock, CRISPR Therapeutics, Chinook, Ventus, RayzeBio, Passage Bio and Vividion, letting some of them operate in stealth for years before showing their cards.

Santa Ana’s raise comes as another Versant biotech, Belharra Therapeutics, took flight with a $50 million Series A in January, and as Coda Biotherapeutics shuttered last fall.

Emtage, a venture partner at Versant, previously led the cell therapy research at Gilead’s Kite Pharma, and was CSO of Cell Design Labs, another Gilead-acquired startup. Stints also include a VP role at MedImmune. The team also includes CTO Danny Wells, joining from an SVP of strategic research seat at Immunai, an AI life sciences startup that reeled in a $215 million Series B in 2021.

Santa Ana says that it’s working on precision immunology drugs for autoimmune diseases with the aid of “single cell genomics & advanced analytics,” per its website.

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