Brano Therapeutics raises $6.8M seed to tackle heart failure
What's the deal? Brano TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a biotech spin-off from Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School, has raised $6.8 million in seed funding to develop new treatments for heart failure — specifically heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a condition with few existing therapies.
The round was led by Trinity Innovation Bioventure SingaporeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and SEEDS, with participation from SGInnovate and Duke-NUS' early-stage fund, LIVE Ventures. LIVE Ventures committed $380,000, marking its first direct investment in a spin-off company.
Brano's research, rooted in work by Duke-NUS scientists and collaborators at the University of Cincinnati, identified a metabolic abnormality in the heart linked to poorer outcomes. Preclinical studies suggest a small-molecule compound may restore metabolic regulation, reducing heart stiffness and improving function.
Why now? Heart failure affects roughly 64 million people globally, and HFpEF prevalence is climbing — driven by ageing populations and rising rates of diabetes and hypertension. In Singapore, heart failure accounts for about 17% of cardiac admissions.
Despite the scale of the problem, HFpEF remains poorly served by current treatments. Brano aims to move its lead therapies into clinical trials by 2029.
What could go wrong? Translating preclinical metabolic findings into viable drugs is notoriously difficult. Small-molecule therapies targeting metabolic pathways face long development timelines, regulatory hurdles, and high failure rates in clinical trials. A 2029 target for trials means Brano will need additional capital well before it generates revenue.
The signal: Brano Therapeutics' seed round underscores a growing pipeline of academic spin-offs in Singapore's biotech ecosystem, with institutional players like SGInnovate and Duke-NUS' LIVE Ventures increasingly co-investing alongside dedicated life-science funds such as Trinity Innovation Bioventure Singapore. The company's focus on small-molecule inhibitors for cardiometabolic diseases positions it in a niche where clinical need far outstrips available therapies — a gap that could attract larger follow-on rounds as the science matures toward its 2029 trial target.
Read more: technode.global
