Protuoso Biosciences Raises $9.5M in Seed Funding Led by Taya Venture

The round also saw participation from NSG Ventures, SEEDS and other investors.

The company plans to use the funds to develop its multifunctional protein engineering platform further and expand its pipeline for cardiometabolic, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Protuoso is building a hub-and-spoke business model, where its main protein engineering platform acts as the core for creating multiple therapies across different disease areas with high unmet medical needs. Individual programs are then developed separately, allowing the company to advance several treatments at the same time and pursue partnership opportunities earlier.

At the center of the platform are MUXBODIES™, recombinant fusion proteins that combine different protein technologies — including antibodies, cytokines, peptides, and signaling modules — into a single therapy. These treatments are designed to target multiple biological pathways at once while improving functionality and drug performance.

These flexible, mix-and-match MUXBODY designs allow Protuoso to create multi-target and multi-function biologic therapies for complex diseases, where single-target treatments have often shown limited effectiveness and long-term results.

Protuoso uses computational protein design, synthetic biology, and AI-powered protein engineering to improve its multi-domain fusion proteins. Its MUXBODIES are designed to go beyond small improvements to existing treatments by creating a new type of biologic therapy built to address the complexity of human diseases better.

Protuoso is developing treatments for cardiometabolic diseases and solid tumors, while also expanding into areas such as autoimmune diseases. In cardiometabolic diseases, the company is creating multifunctional biologics aimed at treating obesity and related organ diseases. In oncology, Protuoso is advancing next generation immune cell engager therapies designed to address challenges in solid tumors, including immune exhaustion and the limited long term effectiveness of current treatments.

Laura Brege, a Senior Advisor to Protuoso and BridgeBio, said, “Protuoso is being built with the rigor and discipline of successful biotech organizations. The company's capital-efficient business model, combined with deep platform innovation and R&D execution, uniquely positions the company to address profound unmet needs across cardiometabolic, oncology, and autoimmune disease.”

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“We’ve invested in leading healthcare funds and global biotech companies, and Protuoso reflects the qualities we look for in an early-stage life sciences platform,” said Christopher Shen, General Manager at Taya Venture. “The combination of a transformative platform technology, an experienced team with a proven track record of advancing multiple high-value assets into the clinic, and a clear path to clinical development forms a strong foundation for long-term value creation.”

“Most biologics today are limited to a single mechanism or modality, as combining multiple functions into one molecule has historically been very complex to engineer,” said Tim Lu, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chairman, Protuoso Biosciences. “As functionality increases, design complexity grows exponentially, which has constrained innovation. Advancements in synthetic biology, AI, and protein design have now enabled us to build a platform that reduces this complexity and achieves scalable development of multifunctional biologics. We believe this approach will unlock more effective therapies for complex diseases and expand the range of what biologics can achieve.”

“Many of the largest disease areas such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases are fundamentally driven by interconnected biology, but most drugs still act on a single pathway,” said Willie Xiang, Co-Founder, President and COO, Protuoso Biosciences. “Our platform gives us the ability to engineer multiple modalities into a single molecule to target a variety of disease mechanisms. Our flexible hub-and-spoke company structure lets us efficiently translate our diverse MUXBODY programs into the clinic.”

About Protuoso Biosciences

Founded by Willie Xiang and Tim Lu, Protuoso Biosciences is developing multifunctional biologic therapies for complex diseases with high unmet medical needs. Its platform is built around MUXBODIES™, recombinant fusion proteins that combine multiple therapeutic approaches into a single treatment. Using AI-powered protein engineering, computational protein design, and synthetic biology, the company is developing new therapies for cardiometabolic, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

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