Fledgling biotechnology company Automera has launched in Singapore with $16 million in series A funding to develop its autophagy-targeting chimera small molecules (AUTACs) platform technology. Automera co-founder and chief technology officer Loong Wang told BioWorld that he and his business partner, Taiyang Zhang, decided to move into the biotechnology space in 2021.

The atopic dermatitis space gained another player in Triveni Bio Inc., which pulled down a $92 million series A financing co-led by Atlas Venture and Cormorant Asset Management to pay for a proof-of-concept study with lead program, TRIV-509, and boost the Waltham, Mass.-based firm’s broader pipeline.

The public markets have hammered biopharma companies conducting IPOs in the past four years, with the number of debuts dwindling and the amounts raised falling dramatically as well. But one of the more telling measures is price performance, which is significantly down for all IPOs completed since 2020. The stock prices of 13 firms that entered the U.S. markets in 2023 are currently at a decline of 26.8% on average, with only two companies trading above their offering price.

Emerging from stealth mode, Rampart Bioscience Inc. pulled down $85 million in series A money for work on DNA-based drugs – a round that was led by Forbion with participation from seed investor Orbimed and new backers RA Capital Management and Healthcap.