Helex announced its oversubscribed USD 3.5 Million Seed round, led by pi Ventures, with participation from Bluehill Capital, SOSV, and a global syndicate of investors. With this round, Helex has raised over USD 6 Million in total funding to date.

“This is more than a new treatment; it’s a new hope for patients with ADPKD. We’re developing a transformative therapy that will be accessible and affordable for every patient who needs it,” said Dr Poulami Chaudhuri, Co-Founder and CEO, Helex.

Helex is pioneering a paradigm shift in the treatment of chronic and rare kidney disorders by developing programmable non-viral lipid nanoparticle (LNP) therapeutics that deliver therapeutic cargo directly to kidney cells, a feat long regarded as one of the greatest challenges in drug delivery. By solving for delivery to the kidney, Helex opens the door to a new class of targeted, disease-modifying medicines for millions of patients who currently have no effective treatment options.

The company’s lead programme targets Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), an inherited disorder, caused primarily by mutations in the PKD1 or PKD2 genes, that affects more than 12 million people worldwide, leading to gradual formation of kidney cysts and decline in renal function. Today, patients with ADPKD face a devastating trajectory, often culminating in dialysis or kidney transplant. Helex aims to change that with a single dose non-viral gene editing based therapy that could halt or significantly slow disease progression.

“This is more than a new treatment; it’s a new hope. For far too long, patients with ADPKD have had to rely only on symptom management, with no true disease-modifying options. We wish to change that. By enabling targeted delivery of genomic medicines directly to the kidney, we are developing a transformative therapy that is also accessible and affordable for every patient who needs it. This seed round marks just the beginning of our journey,” said Dr Poulami Chaudhuri, Co-Founder and CEO, Helex.

Helex was founded by Dr Poulami Chaudhuri (CEO), who brings significant expertise on non-viral delivery and solving for genetic diseases; Rohini Kalvakuntla (CBO), who brings extensive business development experience and working with payers on pricing novel treatments like cell and gene therapies; and Anirudh Nishtala, (COO), who brings over a decade of experience in drug development, sales and operations. The company also announced the appointment of Dr Suman Alishetty, a lipid expert and previous scientific co-founder of AexeRNA (acquired by BioNTech) as Vice President of Drug Delivery.

“ADPKD represents a significant unmet medical need, with current treatments limited to symptom management and not effective for all patients. Gene therapies are emerging as one of the most promising frontiers in medicine. Helex’s first-in-class mechanism of action has the potential to be a curative therapy and positions the company to build a differentiated pipeline of therapies for kidney diseases. We are thrilled to back this world-class team,” said Roopan Aulakh, Managing Partner, pi Ventures.

The new funding will support the development of Helex’s lead programme for ADPKD toward IND enabling studies, pipeline expansion leveraging its programmable LNP delivery and AI-based drug design platforms. The company is steadfast in building a robust franchise of renal programmes that profoundly improve and impact the lives of patients.

 “As the first investor in Helex, I’ve had the privilege of watching the founding team turn one of biotech’s hardest challenges, kidney-targeted delivery, into a real, clinically meaningful opportunity. By combining proprietary kidney-tropic LNPs with their AI-driven Epic-Cure platform, Helex is building a pipeline with the potential to transform outcomes for millions of patients with genetic kidney diseases. This is the kind of company we back at SOSV - bold, mission-driven, and capable of shaping the future of medicine,” said Stephen Chambers, General Partner, SOSV and Managing Director, IndieBio.