Helex secures $3.5 million to advance next-gen gene therapies for kidney diseases

Helex has raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by pi Ventures, with participation from Bluehill.VC, SOSV, and a global syndicate of investors.

Founded by Dr Poulami Chaudhuri, Rohini Kalvakuntla, and Anirudh Nishtala in 2021, headquartered in New York, USA & Hyderabad, India.

Helex is developing non-viral lipid nanoparticle (LNP) gene therapies targeted to kidney cells, aiming to serve patients with inherited and chronic kidney diseases, such as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

The fresh capital will be used to accelerate IND-enabling/preclinical studies for the lead ADPKD programme, expand the proprietary kidney-tropic LNP delivery platform and the AI-driven Epic-Cure™ genome drug-design engine, and extend the pipeline into additional kidney indications.

First-in-class targeting of kidney cells via non-viral LNPs, a major delivery hurdle in gene therapy.

Lead indication addresses ADPKD, affecting 12 million people worldwide with high unmet need.