Outpace Bio raises $144M in Series B financing.

Outpace Bio, a Seattle startup using AI to design proteins for cancer therapies targeting solid tumors, has raised $144 million to test its treatments in clinical settings. The company aims to enhance T cell performance against solid tumors while minimizing side effects. Co-founders Marc Lajoie and Scott Boyken, former University of Washington postdoctoral fellows, launched Outpace in 2021 after working with Dr. Stan Riddell at Lyell Immunopharma.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Playground Global, an early-stage, deep-tech venture firm that invests in founders building category-defining businesses at the forefront of science and technology, today announced that Benjamin Kim PhD, has been promoted to Partner. Ben focuses on identifying founders and companies that are revolutionizing engineered biology, building the future of emerging modality therapeutics development, and unlocking AI and ML workflows to refactor drug development. Ben joined Playground as a Venture Fellow in 2019 while completing his PhD in bioengineering at Stanford University. He became a Venture Associate a year later, and by 2022, he had led investments in two breakthrough biotech companies and was promoted to Venture Principal. In the last year, Ben has supported investments in Insamo (Board Observer and Lead Investor), Infinimmune (Board Director and Lead Seed Investor), Atomic AI (Board Observer and Lead Series A investor) and Amber Bio (Board Observer and Co-Led Seed Investment Round). He has also worked with Outpace Bio and Manifold Bio, where he is a Board Observer