{"entity":{"id":"kivu-bioscience","kind":"company","name":"Kivu Bioscience","aka":[],"tldr":"Kivu Bioscience develops antibody-drug conjugates that carry fewer drug molecules per antibody, attached at one fixed site, to make them better tolerated. Its first two medicines, against the proteins PTK7 and CEACAM5, entered phase 1 trials in solid tumours in 2026.","summary":"Kivu Bioscience, headquartered in San Mateo, California, builds topoisomerase 1 inhibitor ADCs using Synaffix's GlycoConnect and HydraSpace site-specific conjugation technologies, which attach the linker at asparagine-297 of the antibody to give homogeneous conjugates with a lower drug-to-antibody ratio. It announced a USD 92 million Series A led by Novo Holdings on 28 October 2024, with Gimv, Red Tree Venture Capital and HealthCap joining existing investors BioGeneration Ventures, M Ventures and BOM. The lead KIVU-107, a PTK7-directed ADC, dosed its first patient in a phase 1 trial in advanced solid tumours (NCT07229313) in January 2026, and KIVU-305, against CEACAM5, advanced into phase 1 in February 2026. Mohit Trikha became chief executive in April 2026.","asOf":"2026-10-29","links":[{"label":"Official website","url":"https://kivubioscience.com/"},{"label":"USD 92 million Series A, October 2024","url":"https://kivubioscience.com/news/kivu-bioscience-raises-92-million-series-a-led-by-novo-holdings-to-advance-next-generation-antibody-drug-conjugates/"},{"label":"First patient dosed with KIVU-107, January 2026","url":"https://kivubioscience.com/news/kivu-bioscience-announces-first-patient-dosed-in-phase-1-trial-of-kivu-107-next-generation-ptk7-targeting-adc-for-advanced-solid-tumors/"},{"label":"KIVU-305 advances into phase 1, February 2026","url":"https://kivubioscience.com/news/kivu-bioscience-presents-kivu-305-preclinical-data-at-world-adc-london-2026-and-advances-into-phase-1-clinical-trial/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["adcs"],"technologies":["adc","topoisomerase-inhibitors"],"targets":["ptk7","ceacam5"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Founding year not stated, and the earlier financing from BioGeneration Ventures, M Ventures and BOM has no disclosed amount or date. The KIVU-107 trial NCT07229313 has no record in the corpus, so it is not linked."],"hq":"San Mateo, CA","country":"US","companyType":"biotech","website":"https://kivubioscience.com/","stage":"startup","investors":["novo-holdings"],"funding":[{"round":"Series A","year":2024,"amountUsd":92000000,"source":"https://kivubioscience.com/news/kivu-bioscience-raises-92-million-series-a-led-by-novo-holdings-to-advance-next-generation-antibody-drug-conjugates/","note":"Led by Novo Holdings"}]},"route":"/companies/kivu-bioscience/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"adcs","kind":"section","name":"Antibody-Drug Conjugates","route":"/fronts/adcs/"}],"technology":[{"id":"adc","kind":"technology","name":"Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)","route":"/technologies/adc/"},{"id":"topoisomerase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Topoisomerase-I inhibitors (and ADC payloads)","route":"/technologies/topoisomerase-inhibitors/"}],"target":[{"id":"ceacam5","kind":"target","name":"CEACAM5","route":"/targets/ceacam5/"},{"id":"ptk7","kind":"target","name":"PTK7","route":"/targets/ptk7/"}],"company":[{"id":"novo-holdings","kind":"company","name":"Novo Holdings","route":"/companies/novo-holdings/"}]}}