TriGemX Bio Raises $94M, Brings Total Funding to $573M

TriGemX Bio has raised $94M in venture funding led by The Column Group, TCG Crossover, and Viking Global Investors, according to AlleyWatch's daily NYC funding report for October 2, 2026. The round lifts the company's total reported equity funding to $573M.

The biotech company, founded in 2015 by Charles Zuker, Richard Axel, and Thomas Maniatis, is developing a first-in-class oral medicine for the treatment of migraine. Alongside the financing, the company dropped its former name, Kallyope, and relaunched as TriGemX Bio.

The rebrand marks a strategic pivot for a company backed by three prominent Columbia University scientists. Zuker and Axel are both known for their work in neuroscience and sensory biology, and Axel shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Maniatis is a leading molecular biologist. The founding trio launched the company in 2015, and it has since compiled one of the larger cumulative funding stacks among NYC biotech startups, at $573M in reported equity funding.

The structure of the round signals late-stage confidence in the migraine program. The Column Group, a San Francisco-based life sciences venture firm, anchored the deal alongside TCG Crossover and Viking Global Investors, two funds known for writing larger checks into biotech companies approaching commercialization or key clinical milestones. Crossover participation of this kind typically accompanies companies with clinical data in hand or advanced-stage programs, though AlleyWatch's report did not disclose valuation or stage-specific terms.

An oral, first-in-class migraine treatment would address a market currently dominated by injectable and intranasal options, including the CGRP inhibitor class. TriGemX Bio did not disclose a development timeline in the funding announcement as reported.

The second deal of the day sits at the opposite end of the funding spectrum. Walapay, a payments infrastructure company, raised $4.6M in Seed funding led by Generative Ventures, with participation from a syndicate of eleven investors: Commerce Ventures, Polygon Labs, Verda Ventures, NGC Ventures, FGV Capital, Jsquare, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Big Brain Holdings, Reflexive Capital, and Contribution Capital.

Walapay provides a single API for account issuance, collections, currency exchange, and payouts across borders. The company was founded in 2022 by Tom Borgers and Dimitri Borgers. The breadth of the seed syndicate, which spans fintech-specialist firms such as Commerce Ventures and crypto-native investors including Polygon Labs and Big Brain Holdings, points to the convergence of traditional payments infrastructure and blockchain-adjacent capital in early-stage fintech.

The two deals bookend a NYC funding day that spans pre-revenue biotech and seed-stage fintech infrastructure. For TriGemX Bio, the $573M cumulative raise and crossover-led round position the relaunched company for the clinical and commercial milestones ahead for its oral migraine candidate.