Matt Kane plots ambitious return to Triangle biotech scene with Tune Therapeutics

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N&O Innovation and Technology Newsletter: December 3, 2021

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Matt Kane is back.

After successfully taking his last company, Precision Biosciences, to an IPO, Kane stepped down from Precision earlier this year.

Now, he’s tackling a new frontier of gene therapy -- epigenetics -- and is getting some serious backers, including locally based Hatteras Venture Partners and the Emerson Collective, the organization founded by Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs.

I spoke with Kane about the new company, Tune Therapeutics, and what he is trying to do with it.

[Read more here]

Philanthropy funds the Innovate Raleigh fellowship. Consider supporting philanthropy-funded journalism by going to www.newsobserver.com/donate

Matthew Kane, CEO of Tune Therapeutics
Matthew Kane, CEO of Tune Therapeutics

(Matt Kane)

Tech news from the Triangle

  • A vacant Kroger in Raleigh will soon be transformed into lab space, as Triangle’s life sciences market continues to grow. [N&O]

  • Pryon, Raleigh AI startup founded by entrepreneur who helped build parts of Amazon’s Alexa, preps for pivotal year. [N&O]

  • Former PowerSecure CEO’s new startup pulls in $8M. [Inno]

  • Google delays January office return because of omicron variant. [Protocol]

What I’m reading

  • These 5 NC counties are considered more economically ‘distressed’ than they were a year ago. [N&O]

  • Jack Dorsey’s big week: leaving Twitter and diving further into crypto. [Economist]

  • Big Tech Privacy Moves Spur Companies to Amass Customer Data. [WSJ]

  • Bezos: Future Humans ‘Will Visit the Earth the Way You Visit Yellowstone’ [Gizmodo]

  • Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing company, begins delisting its New York-traded shares just months after offering. [NYT]

  • Dick Vitale made a promise to Jimmy V he won’t break, even as cancer tries to stop him. [N&O]

  • Ghost Kitchens are proving to be a messy business. [WSJ]

  • The effective fomo of Spotify Wrapped. [The Verge]

Other Triangle business

  • It’s been nearly a week since 3 people were shot at a Durham mall. Here’s what we know. [N&O]

  • Chapel Hill gives developer ‘huge responsibility’ to shape downtown skyline, future. [N&O]

  • UNC board members were kept in dark about legislature’s order to move offices to Raleigh. [N&O]

Let me know what you’re seeing. Email me at zeanes@newsobserver.com. Tweet me @zeanes. Call me at 919-829-4516.

Zachery Eanes is the Innovate Raleigh reporter for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. He covers technology, startups and main street businesses, biotechnology, and education issues related to those areas.

This newsletter was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate