Flagship-backed RNA startup company raises $109M

Nearly two years after launching, a big RNA play from venture firm Flagship Pioneering has announced a nine-figure raise. Alltrna, the startup behind still-experimental drugs that use transfer RNA or "tRNA," raised $109 million in a Series B round. But the company isn’t naming any investors, aside from Flagship, alluding only to "a number of top-tier investors" who’d participated in the financing. Alltrna has hit a handful of milestones since it launched in November 2021. The company has grown from 30 employees to 65, hired a permanent CEO in former Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) Oncology solid tumors franchise head Michelle Werner, and narrowed its focus — somewhat.