CE-Ventures invests in $55mn Series A to advance Noonan syndrome therapies

CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital platform of UAE-headquartered Crescent Enterprises, has invested in an oversubscribed $55 million Series A funding round for Think Bioscience, a US-based biotech company focused on developing treatments for historically challenging drug targets, including Noonan syndrome.

The Series A round was led by Regeneron Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and Janus Henderson Investors, with participation from CE-Ventures, MBX Capital, T.A. Springer and YK Bioventures. Returning investors AV8 Ventures, CU Innovations and Buff Gold Ventures also joined the round.

Funding to advance rare disease research

The new capital will be used to advance Think Bioscience’s internal pipeline of first-in-class small-molecule programmes and further develop its synthetic biology-driven discovery platform.

Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Think Bioscience applies synthetic biology to uncover previously hidden features on proteins, such as novel binding pockets. These footholds enable medicinal chemists to design small-molecule drugs against targets that have long been considered undruggable. Despite advances in computational chemistry, many proteins across the human proteome remain inaccessible to conventional drug discovery because they lack obvious binding sites.

The company’s lead programme focuses on genetic mutations that cause Noonan syndrome, a condition affecting approximately one in 2,500 births. Noonan syndrome is associated with serious cardiac and lymphatic complications, short stature, cognitive impairment and chronic pain. There are currently no approved therapies that directly address the underlying biology of the disease.

Tushar Singhvi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Investments at Crescent Enterprises, said: “Think Bioscience is building a differentiated platform at the frontier of synthetic biology and drug discovery, with the potential to expand what is pharmaceutically possible for patients with high unmet need. Our investment reflects strong conviction in Think Bio’s approach and the opportunity to build a leading biotech company that can benefit patients worldwide.”

Dr Jerome Fox, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Think Bioscience, said: “Our lead programme has the potential to give a broad set of Noonan patients a normal life. We are grateful to our investors for supporting our vision to develop life-changing therapies for patients in need.”

Think Bioscience expands therapeutic pipeline

Think Bioscience’s platform uses high-throughput functional surveys to identify new, mechanism-relevant sites on proteins, enabling the development of small molecules with biochemical activities previously viewed as difficult or impossible to achieve.

The company has extended this approach across a diverse range of targets, supporting a growing internal pipeline of therapeutic programmes.

Dr Damir Illich, Manager of Life Sciences at CE-Ventures, who will join Think Bioscience’s board as an observer, said: “Think Bioscience is addressing one of drug discovery’s most critical bottlenecks by enabling small-molecule drugs against historically undruggable targets. Their Noonan syndrome program highlights the platform’s potential where no approved therapies exist.”

The investment builds on CE-Ventures’ broader strategy of backing R&D-led, asset-light biotech ventures with the potential to compete on a global stage.