GHIC adds $10M to Aerska's Series A, bringing total funding to $70M
What's the deal? Global Health Investment CorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (GHIC) is investing $10 million in Aerska, a Dublin-headquartered biotech developing RNA medicines that can cross the blood-brain barrier to treat neurological diseases. The investment adds to Aerska's Series A round, which was originally announced in February 2026 at $39 million, led by EQT Dementia Fund and age1Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, with participation from Iaso VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and existing investors.
The fresh capital brings Aerska's total funding to $70 million — a rapid acceleration since its seed round in October 2025. The company has research operations in London.
Why now? Getting RNA-based drugs past the blood-brain barrier has long been one of the hardest problems in neurology. Aerska's antibody-oligo conjugate (AOC) platform uses proprietary "brain shuttle" technology to deliver RNA interference therapeutics into the brain via intravenous or subcutaneous injection — potentially enabling treatment of neurological diseases at their genetic source.
GHIC, which has a 10-year venture partnership with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), sees a dual opportunity here. Beyond neurodegeneration, the investment will support work exploring Aerska's platform for treating severe neurotropic viral infections — a health security angle that aligns with GHIC's mandate.
What could go wrong? Crossing the blood-brain barrier remains a notoriously difficult challenge, and many promising delivery technologies have stumbled in clinical translation. Aerska's platform is still pre-clinical, meaning years of testing lie ahead before any product could reach patients.
The company also faces growing competition. Multiple biotech firms and large pharma players are racing to solve CNS drug delivery, and the field's complexity means technical setbacks could emerge at any stage.
The signal: Aerska's leap from seed to $70 million in total funding between October 2025 and May 2026 — with backing from a specialist dementia fund (EQT Dementia Fund), a longevity-focused VC (age1), and now a BARDA-partnered global health fund — underscores how brain-targeted RNA delivery is attracting capital from investors with very different mandates but a shared bet on the same platform. The convergence of neurodegeneration and health-security money into a single pre-clinical startup suggests the market sees CNS-penetrant RNAi not as a niche play but as foundational infrastructure for multiple therapeutic areas.
Read more: ghicfunds.org
