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Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

PharmEnable raises $7.5M in Pre-Series A funding round with a follow-on investment from o2h Ventures
PharmEnable raises $7.5M in Pre-Series A funding round with a follow-on investment from o2h Ventures
May 29 2023

Cambridge, UK:

o2h Ventures is thrilled to announce a follow-on investment in PharmEnable, a Cambridge-based, female-lead biotech company that specializes in drug discovery with a focus on chemical novelty, diversity, and complexity. PharmEnable is revolutionizing treatments available for cancer and neurological diseases by designing the next generation of small-molecule drugs. 

During the recent funding round, PharmEnable successfully closed a total of $7.5 million in pre-Series A funding, which was led by MP Healthcare Venture Management (MPH), the venture arm of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Group. The other esteemed participating investors include Cambridge Enterprise and Martlet Capital, among others.

These funds will be utilized to support ongoing projects in co-discovery and wholly-owned initiatives, while further expanding research and development efforts across oncology and neurology targets. PharmEnable utilizes its proprietary platform to develop targeted therapies that replicate the specificity of biologics but with the improved efficacy, absorption, and distribution properties enabled by custom-designed oral small molecules. Additionally, PharmEnable has expanded its board, with two highly experienced board directors joining. 

o2h Ventures were seed investors and invested in PharmEnable in 2020 as they spun out of Cambridge University. This was one of the first investments from their HMRC-approved knowledge-intensive EIS funds, which aim to invest in early-stage companies covering therapeutic drug opportunities or enabling drug discovery or services. 

Sunil Shah, CEO of o2h Ventures, said: “Hannah Sore has done an amazing job at building the team and executing on business deals that led to investors backing the company in this pre-series A investment. The relationships that she has built with the pharma and biotech community, including that with Sosei Therapeutics, is exciting and I hope will lead to commercially exciting future collaborations.”

Dr Hannah Sore, CEO of PharmEnable, said: “At PharmEnable, we believe that everyone deserves safe and effective treatments, and we are committed to applying the principles of chemical novelty, diversity and 3-dimensionality to design powerful new small molecule drugs. I am delighted that o2h Ventures is further supporting PharmEnable during our Pre-Series A, enabling our mission to deliver life-changing medicines to patients who need them.”

About PharmEnable

PharmEnable is a Cambridge (UK) based biotech developing the next generation of small molecule drugs, with a focus on novelty, diversity and 3-dimensionality. The company’s interdisciplinary approach integrates advanced medicinal chemistry expertise and cutting-edge AI/computational methods to deliver novel therapeutics for diseases with high clinical need. PharmEnable’s proprietary drug discovery platform provides a powerhouse for generating novel chemical entities against challenging targets. It models drug targets to identify their key molecular interactions, and then maps and expands the novel chemical space that can modulate a specific target. Advanced medicinal chemistry expertise guides the development of synthesizable, complex and 3-dimensional small molecules, increasing specificity and reducing off-target effects. PharmEnable’s vision is to reproduce the specificity of biologics in the powerful and scalable form of a small molecule.

For more information see www.pharmenable.com 

About o2h Ventures

The o2h Ventures ‘Human Health’ SEIS and KI EIS funds make tax-efficient investments in Pre-Seed and Seed stage companies that address human disease: we fund the development of novel therapeutic treatments; we help build new services and tools offerings throughout the biotech ecosystem, and we spur the creation of software & artificial intelligence that will change healthcare.

The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h Ventures operates from their proprietary 2.7 acre Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

For more information or to invest in the fund, please visit www.o2hventures.com

Media Contact:

Juhi Shah

Marketing Manager

juhi.shah@o2h.com

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Please refer to the relevant fund’s full risk warnings contained in their Information Memorandums.
Your capital is at risk. Investing in early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. o2h Ventures’ funds are targeted exclusively at sophisticated or high net worth investors who understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Tax relief depends on an individual’s circumstances and may change in the future. In addition, the availability of tax relief depends on the company invested in maintaining its qualifying status. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance.
o2h ventures Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 812245). Capital at risk, only suitable for high net worth and sophisticated investors
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Risk Information

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk

What are the key risks?

1 – You could lose all the money you invest

• If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invest. Most start-up businesses fail.

2 – You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

• Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here. (https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/investment-protection-checker)

• Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here. (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers)

3 – You won’t get your money back quickly

• Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.

• The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.

• If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.

4 – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

• Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.

• A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest)

5 – The value of your investment can be reduced

• The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.

• These new shares could have addition rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart)