After soliciting well over $100 million in funding to launch and expand Blu Homes into a national builder and open a factory, Bill Haney resigned as CEO recently amid the total downsizing of Blu only to pop up getting $33 Million in funding to launch Dragonfly, a new medical drug company.
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| Bill Haney and Maura McCarthy, from a Forbes article about the ‘success’ of Blu Homes |
What is very interesting is that a Disney family member was one of the first to fund he and Maura McCarthy’s Blu Home startup and once again the Disney name is backing this new venture. No word yet if Maura is joining him or if she will continue on at Blu Homes.
I am continually amazed at the way money just seems to flow to him no matter what business he decides to start.
RELATED Article – Blu Homes Secures Another Round of Funding
Here is the story of Bill Haney’s newest startup from the EXOME website:
Dragonfly, Tyler Jacks’s Disney-Backed Startup,
Dragonfly Therapeutics, a stealthy startup formed by well-known cancer researchers on both coasts and backed by a high-powered group of family offices, has inked its first partnership. Celgene, of Summit, NJ, is paying Dragonfly $33 million up front for the chance to co-develop up to four blood cancer drugs.
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| Bill Haney on the left with his new investors |
The deal is a modest bet for Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), which generates more than $11 billion a year, largely from lymphoma and multiple myeloma drugs, and has aligned itself with a slew of startups through creative partnerships over the years. But it’s the first stamp of validation for Cambridge, MA-based Dragonfly since it was formed in July 2015 by cancer research pioneer Tyler Jacks, his longtime friend, filmmaker and tech entrepreneur Bill Haney, and UC Berkeley immunologist David Raulet.
CLICK HERE to read the entire EXOME article
