Dog Longevity Startup Loyal Secures $45 Million in Funding

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Biotech startup Loyal has raised $45 million in equity to help bring its first longevity drug for dogs to market. Bain Capital Ventures led the Series B financing, with participation by new backer Valor Equity Partners, as well as returning investors Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital and others. Bain Partner Kevin Zhang has joined Loyal’s board.

Bridge Bank, part of Western Alliance Bank, has also provided a $12.5 million line of credit to the company. Loyal’s valuation increased, said founder and chief executive Celine Halioua, but she declined to comment on specific figures. Research firm PitchBook Data put the San Francisco startup’s valuation in its prior round in 2022 at $220 million.

Halioua said the financing process began after the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine in November deemed Loyal’s LOY-001 drug program to have a “reasonable expectation of effectiveness." Loyal, which is incorporated as Cellular Longevity, aims to become an independent pharmaceutical company and a consumer brand selling treatments for animals. Biotech startups developing human medicines with early positive data typically partner with large pharma for distribution and manufacturing, said Robert Schultz, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College. “Small companies don’t have the runway or the expertise to do that on their own," he said.

Halioua said that, “We haven’t really raised from traditional East Coast biotech funds. We have a very different business model and a different go-to-market." She noted Loyal’s board includes members with biotech expertise, such as Stephen Betz, chief scientific officer at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, who is a board observer. Loyal believes it can remain