--- title: 'Funding Daily Summary: What Happened on October 3, 2026' headline: Circle Pharma raises $92.5 million and prioritizes preclinical cyclin D1 drug description: The day also brought venture rounds, an IPO filing, a new fund target and public funding for research. url: https://thebench.bio/news/funding/2026-10-03 topic: funding date: '2026-10-03' covers: - '2026-10-02' - '2026-10-03' date_published: '2026-10-03T15:25:14Z' date_modified: '2026-10-03T15:49:24Z' sources: 5 publisher: The Bench (thebench.bio) --- # Funding Daily Summary: What Happened on October 3, 2026 **Circle Pharma raises $92.5 million and prioritizes preclinical cyclin D1 drug** The day also brought venture rounds, an IPO filing, a new fund target and public funding for research. ## Today in brief Circle Pharma's $92.5 million Series E will support its decision to put preclinical candidate CID-165 ahead of its Phase I lead program. [1] Other funding news ranged from venture rounds and a new fund target to a UK commitment for dementia diagnosis. [2] [3] [4] ## Circle puts preclinical CID-165 ahead of its clinical lead Circle Pharma announced a $92.5 million Series E on September 16 and is making CID-165 its top development priority. [1] The candidate inhibits cyclin D1, while CID-078, Circle’s cyclin A/B inhibitor, remains in Phase I. [1] CEO David Earp said preclinical combination data drove the decision to prioritize CID-165. [1] Circle plans to begin clinical development of CID-165 in early 2027, pursuing deeper responses in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer by targeting another part of the pathway addressed by CDK4/6 drugs. [1] ## Also worth knowing - On October 2, Enveda closed a $311 million Series E, Basecamp Research raised $140 million in a Series C, and BigHat Biosciences completed a $75 million Series C. [2] - On October 2, Iambic Therapeutics filed for a US IPO and announced a multiyear research collaboration with AbbVie. [2] - On October 2, Hatteras Venture Partners set a $100 million target for a second fund focused on follow-on investments in selected portfolio companies, nearly four times the predecessor fund’s size. [3] - On October 2, the UK committed £80 million to an effort to improve dementia diagnosis. [4] - On October 2, CaseBioscience joined a Likarda-led team selected for up to $7.3 million in ARPA-H support for cell-preservation research. [5] ## The day in numbers - **$92.5 million**: Circle Pharma’s Series E financing [1] - **Early 2027**: Circle’s planned start for clinical development of CID-165 [1] ## Sources 1. [Circle’s $92.5M round puts cyclin D1 program ahead of clinical lead](), BioCentury, 2026-10-03 2. [Friday’s TechBio News](), MetaphysicalCells, 2026-10-02 3. [Hatteras banks on portfolio with upsized Opportunity Fund](), BioCentury, 2026-10-02 4. [UK puts £80m behind dementia diagnosis push](), pharmaphorum, 2026-10-02 5. [CaseBioscience Joins $7.3 Million ARPA-H Team on Cell Preservation](), BioPharm International, 2026-10-02 --- The Bench wrote this from the reporting cited above, with a language model drafting and editing. [1]: [2]: [3]: [4]: [5]: