Press Release
Press Release
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Taina Rosa, Olivia Meyer
02.19.26
Pillsbury advised Sift Biosciences on its recent oversubscribed $3.7 million pre-seed financing. Sift Biosciences, a UC Berkeley spinout, is developing a next-generation peptide immunotherapy platform that integrates AI, metagenomics and high-throughput immune profiling to unlock novel cancer treatments.
The round was led by Freeflow Ventures and Lifespan Vision Ventures, with additional participation from Valuence Ventures, Eisai Innovation, SBI US Gateway Fund and other early supporters.
Sift is pioneering a new class of peptide-based immunotherapies engineered to activate pre-existing memory T cells, addressing the limited immunogenicity that constrains many current cancer treatments. The company is initially targeting immunologically “cold” solid tumors—such as microsatellite-stable colorectal and ovarian cancers—where therapeutic options remain limited and patient outcomes are often poor.
According to the company, proceeds from the pre-seed financing will be used to advance in vivo efficacy studies, further develop and scale Sift’s AI-driven peptide discovery engine, and support lead candidate nomination across its oncology pipeline.
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The Pillsbury deal team was led by Corporate partner Matt Kirmayer and included counsel Walter Scott and senior associate Erin Choo, and International Trade partner Matt Rabinowitz.