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An ACS BrightEdge portfolio company was recently acquired by Merck, marking the seventh BrightEdge investment exit. Modifi Bioscience, Inc., a New Haven, CT-based pre-clinical stage company, announced the deal with Merck could total $1.3 billion.

Among the company's leaders are two former ACS grantees, Ranjit Bindra MD, PhD, and Seth Herzon PhD, who co-founded the company to disrupt conventional oncology drug development in hard-to-treat cancers. The company aims to improve the standard of cancer therapy and patient care by developing direct DNA modification enabled cancer therapeutics.

“I'm especially proud of the BrightEdge investment team and the American Cancer Society former scientific grantees who discovered and propelled programs that bring hope for those who have not benefited from cancer innovation to date," BrightEdge Managing Director Alice Pomponio shared on LinkedIn. “Brain cancer has the worst survival second only to pancreatic. This news is a refreshing change in tide, so everyone rises."

Impact Investment Income

BrightEdge was an early strategic investor in Modifi's seed round of funding. The purchase demonstrates the BrightEdge team's ability to source and invest in profitable venture capital investment deals that align with ACS mission and deepen the impact of those companies along their journey BrightEdge actively collaborated with multiple brain-related cancer nonprofits and was represented on the Modifi Board of Directors by Lucas de Breed, BrightEdge Director of Investments.  

The total value of the acquisition is valued at $1.3 billion. ACS will receive a pro rata percentage of those funds upfront as well as milestone payments—proof of concept for new streams of ACS revenue generation coming from equity investing.