Protuoso Biosciences (“Protuoso”), a biotechnology company developing next-generation multifunctional biologics designed to address complex disease biology, announced today the close of an oversubscribed $9.5 million seed financing round led by Taya Venture and Darwin Ventures, with participation from NSG Ventures, SEEDS and other investors. The proceeds will be used to advance the company’s multifunctional protein engineering platform and broad pipeline across cardiometabolic, oncology, and autoimmune diseases.
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Protuoso Bio co-founders Willie Xiang, President & COO and Tim Lu, Ph.D., Chairman. Photo credit: Protuoso Bio
Protuoso is building a therapeutic-agnostic hub-and-spoke model, with its core protein engineering platform serving as the central hub to generate multiple differentiated therapeutic assets across disease areas of high unmet medical need. Programs are then advanced through focused “spokes,” enabling parallel development and early business development engagement at the asset level.
At the core of the platform are the company’s MUXBODIES™ – fully recombinant fusion proteins designed to integrate diverse protein modalities, including antibodies, cytokines, peptides, and other signaling modules, into a single therapeutic that can engage multiple biological mechanisms simultaneously. MUXBODIES achieve coordinated, multi-modal functions, including both agonist and antagonist activities, programmable protein logic, and optimized pharmacokinetics.
These modular, “mix-and-match” MUXBODY architectures allow Protuoso to efficiently engineer multi-specific and multi-functional biologics tailored to complex diseases, where targeting a single pathway has historically led to limited efficacy and durability.
“Many of the largest disease areas such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases are fundamentally driven by interconnected biology, but most drugs still act on a single pathway,” said Willie Xiang, Co-Founder, President and COO, Protuoso Biosciences. “Our platform gives us the ability to engineer multiple modalities into a single molecule to target a variety of disease mechanisms. Our flexible hub-and-spoke company structure lets us efficiently translate our diverse MUXBODY programs into the clinic.”
Protuoso’s platform integrates computational protein design, massively parallel synthetic biology, and AI-enabled modular protein engineering to optimize these multi-domain fusion proteins. MUXBODIES move beyond incremental improvements on existing modalities and enable a new class of biologics that addresses the complexity of human disease.
“Most biologics today are limited to a single mechanism or modality, as combining multiple functions into one molecule has historically been very complex to engineer,” said Tim Lu, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chairman, Protuoso Biosciences. “As functionality increases, design complexity grows exponentially, which has constrained innovation. Advancements in synthetic biology, AI, and protein design have now enabled us to build a platform that reduces this complexity and achieves scalable development of multifunctional biologics. We believe this approach will unlock more effective therapies for complex diseases and expand the range of what biologics can achieve.”
Protuoso has programs in cardiometabolic diseases, solid tumors and is expanding rapidly into other therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases. In cardiometabolic diseases, the company is developing multifunctional biologics designed to target upstream systemic obesity and downstream end-organ pathological diseases. In oncology, Protuoso is advancing next-generation “armored” immune cell engager programs that overcome key solid-tumor challenges due to immune exhaustion and limited durability with current therapies.
“We’ve invested in leading healthcare funds and global biotech companies, and Protuoso reflects the qualities we look for in an early-stage life sciences platform,” said Christopher Shen, General Manager at Taya Venture. “The combination of a transformative platform technology, an experienced team with a proven track record of advancing multiple high-value assets into the clinic, and a clear path to clinical development forms a strong foundation for long-term value creation.”
Laura Brege, a Senior Advisor to Protuoso and BridgeBio, said, “Protuoso is being built with the rigor and discipline of successful biotech organizations. The company’s capital-efficient business model, combined with deep platform innovation and R&D execution, uniquely positions the company to address profound unmet needs across cardiometabolic, oncology, and autoimmune disease.”
The company’s hub-and-spoke model is designed to support both internal development and external transactions, allowing individual programs to be partnered, spun out, or advanced independently. Protuoso is leveraging this structure to drive capital efficiency while creating multiple value inflection points across the pipeline.
About Protuoso Biosciences
Protuoso Biosciences is pioneering innovative multifunctional biologics to address complex diseases with high unmet need. At the core of its platform are MUXBODIESTM, fully recombinant fusion proteins that integrate multiple modalities to engage a combination of disease mechanisms. Leveraging AI-enabled protein engineering, computational protein design, and massively parallel synthetic biology, Protuoso discovers and develops first-in-class and best-in-class therapies across cardiometabolic, oncology and autoimmune indications. The company operates under a scalable therapeutic-agnostic hub-and-spoke model, building and optimizing its core protein engineering platform at the hub while advancing therapeutic area-focused assets through disciplined execution and early business development engagement at each spoke. For more information, visit www.protuoso.bio.
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