Encoded Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company in South San Francisco developing one-time genetic medicines for severe neurological disorders, closed a $275m Series F financing, it announced on 9 September 2026.
GV, the venture arm of Alphabet, co-led the round with another healthcare fund that the company did not name. ARCH Venture Partners, Braidwell, Farallon Capital Management, Illumina Ventures, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors, Matrix Capital Management, Nolan Capital, RTW Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Venrock also took part. Encoded said the group included new and existing investors but did not say which were which.
The company did not disclose a valuation or how much it has raised in total.
“With pivotal development underway, this financing gives us the resources to advance ETX101 toward registration while continuing to build the capabilities and pipeline that will define Encoded's next stage.”Kartik Ramamoorthi, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Encoded Therapeutics
What Encoded does
Encoded builds gene therapies using a vector engineering platform that it says allows cell-type-selective control of gene expression in the brain and peripheral nervous system. It runs discovery, development and GMP manufacturing in-house. Kartik Ramamoorthi is chief executive.
Its lead programme, ETX101, is a one-time gene therapy for SCN1A-positive Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of childhood epilepsy that also causes developmental delays. The therapy is designed to selectively increase expression of a healthy copy of the SCN1A gene, Pharmaceutical Technology reported. More than 90% of Dravet cases are caused by loss of function in SCN1A, and the condition is estimated to affect about one in 16,000 live births, according to the same report.
The round followed interim results from the Phase 1/2 POLARIS study, which Encoded presented at the European Epilepsy Congress. The company said the data showed substantial and sustained reductions in seizure frequency along with encouraging developmental gains. Pharmaceutical Technology reported that monthly seizures fell by up to 79% at the third dose level among patients who had completed a year of follow-up.
What the money is for
Encoded said the proceeds will fund a pivotal study of ETX101 in infants and young children with SCN1A-positive Dravet syndrome, plus an expansion study in children and adolescents up to 18 years old.
The money will also pay for a commercial-scale expansion of its internal GMP manufacturing and for work on the rest of its pipeline. That includes ETX301, a candidate for post-amputation neuroma pain, for which the company is aiming to file an Investigational New Drug application in 2027.
"With pivotal development underway, this financing gives us the resources to advance ETX101 toward registration while continuing to build the capabilities and pipeline that will define Encoded's next stage," Ramamoorthi said.
Who invested
Two GV partners commented on the deal in the announcement. Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, a general partner, pointed to ETX101's durable seizure control and promising neurodevelopmental signals. David Schenkein, a general partner and co-lead of life sciences at GV, said Encoded was well positioned to build a portfolio of medicines across neurological diseases.
The size of the round stood out among late-stage biotech financings. Dealroom said it ranked among the largest Series F rounds on record in the US health sector, above the 95th percentile of 146 comparable deals. Dealroom's headline gave the amount as $280m, but its text, the company and the other reports used $275m.
A crowded field in Dravet syndrome
Encoded is not the only company working on SCN1A. Pharmaceutical Technology noted that Biogen signed a deal worth up to $550m for rights to Stoke Therapeutics' zorevunersen, an antisense drug for Dravet syndrome, in markets outside the US, Canada and Mexico. A Phase III readout for that drug, from the EMPEROR study, is expected in the third quarter of 2027, the publication reported.
Company website: encoded.com