Stoked Bio Announces the Closing of Seed Financing Round

Oversubscribed $2,500,000 Seed round Funds to advance pipeline of novel therapeutics for conditions of high unmet medical need 99% of the investment sourced from Ontario investors

HAMILTON, ON, May 1, 2026 /CNW/ - Stoked Bio Inc., a Canadian biotechnology company focused on the development of novel anti-infectives and cancer therapeutics, announced today the closing of the Seed financing round. The financing was led by a group of Angel Investors with the contribution from insiders. The investment will support Stoked Bio's development efforts to advance the internal pipeline products towards proof of concept.

Stoked Bio's mission is to advance novel therapeutic candidates identified using a unique, biology-first, AI-guided process created in the Jon Stokes lab at McMaster University. Utilizing this proprietary process, Stoked Bio has advanced a portfolio of therapeutics to combat diseases resistant to current treatment options. This financing round will support the continued development of anti-infectives and programs treating conditions of the microbiome, the first cancer program for Glioblastoma, and a novel treatment approach to improve symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

"Stoked Bio was founded on the idea of tackling diseases with a real need for new therapeutic options," said Jeff Skinner, CEO of Stoked Bio. "This financing, in combination with significant non-dilutive funding, provides us with runway to advance our growing portfolio of novel drug candidates to late-stage proof of concept and initiate partnering discussions. We are thrilled to work with this strong group of investors and best of all, 99% of the money is from Ontario."

Too much of the current research resources, both time and money, are being spent on a surprisingly small number of druggable targets. Stoked Bio's mission is to expand treatment options for diseases of the highest medical needs. The lead candidate, Enterololin, is a novel antibiotic to treat an infection on the WHO priority pathogen list and has potential to treat several microbiome-related conditions. The fungal infection program, in collaboration with the University of Guelph, is showing promise to treat important fungal infections that are resistant to current therapeutic options.

About the Stokes Lab, McMaster University
The Stokes lab (Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University) specializes in antibiotics and mechanisms of host-microbe interactions. The lab's discovery of Enterololin and the AI-assisted mechanistic work were published in Nature Microbiology and covered in Canadian and international press. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02142-0

About Enterololin
Enterololin selectively targets Enterobacteriaceae, a family of bacteria on the WHO list of priority pathogens also implicated in multiple conditions related to the microbiome. The microbiome (the beneficial bacteria that live on and in us) is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to human health. With the potential to avoid the broad microbiome disruption characteristic of most existing antibiotics, Enterololin presents substantial opportunity to improve care for patients with conditions such as hepatic encephalopathy, recurrent urinary tract infections, and Crohn's disease.

About Stoked Bio
Stoked Bio is creating the path of least resistance by re-inventing how therapies for drug-resistant diseases are discovered and developed. Our biology-first approach integrates proprietary, disease-specific training data with state-of-the-art machine learning to identify compounds with real biological effect and strong translational promise, instead of just a statistical signal. By increasing the odds of success, we can accelerate timelines through early pharma partnerships to deliver strong near-term investor value. Our portfolio continues to expand with novel therapeutic options to treat important resistant diseases. For more information, visit https://stokedbio.com.

SOURCE Stoked Bio Inc

For more information: Jeff Skinner, CEO, [email protected]