# Peter Dudek

> Peter Dudek is a Series B investor at Merck (Cambridge) backing Biotechnology and Health Care. See 5 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Merck](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/merck-co-inc)
- Location: Cambridge, United States
- Total investments: 5
- Last investment: Sep 2022
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pdudek/
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/dud3k
- Website: https://x.com/dud3k

Peter Dudek is a partner MRL Ventures Fund at Merck.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 3 | 60% |
| Health Care | 2 | 40% |
| Therapeutics | 2 | 40% |
| Medical | 1 | 20% |
| Life Science | 1 | 20% |

6 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series B | 2 | 40% |
| Series C | 2 | 40% |
| Series A | 1 | 20% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Carisma Therapeutics | Carisma Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing cellular immunotherapies to treat solid tumors. Its cell therapies apply powerful chimeric antigen receptor technology and adoptive cell transfer in cancer therapy and to macrophages that infiltrate the solid tumor micro-environment that enables solid tumor patients to receive strongcellular immunotherapy and cancer treatments. The company's technology leverages advances in macrophage biology, chimeric antigen receptor engineering, and adoptive cellular therapy for the treatment of human disease.Founded in 2016 by Michael Klichinsky and Saar Gill, Carisma Therapeutics is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | $30M | Series C | Sep 21, 2022 |  |
| Mozart Therapeutics | The company intended to focus on developing novel immune engagers. | $55M | Series A | Oct 26, 2021 |  |
| Carisma Therapeutics | Carisma Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing cellular immunotherapies to treat solid tumors. Its cell therapies apply powerful chimeric antigen receptor technology and adoptive cell transfer in cancer therapy and to macrophages that infiltrate the solid tumor micro-environment that enables solid tumor patients to receive strongcellular immunotherapy and cancer treatments. The company's technology leverages advances in macrophage biology, chimeric antigen receptor engineering, and adoptive cellular therapy for the treatment of human disease.Founded in 2016 by Michael Klichinsky and Saar Gill, Carisma Therapeutics is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | $12M | Series B | Mar 01, 2021 |  |
| Xilio Therapeutics | Xilio Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing next-generation cancer immunotherapies designed to improve patient outcomes by unleashing the power of the immune system selectively at the site of the tumor. The company’s tumor-selective immunotherapies are based on its proprietary technology, which maximizes the potency of provenimmuno-oncology therapies and restricts their activity to the tumor to minimize peripheral side effects. The broad applicability of these therapies across cancer types means that all patients could benefit from these potentially curative medicines.These tumor-selective therapies are designed to overcome the significant toxicities associated with validated IO therapies, such as IL-2 and aCTLA4, which have historically limited the number of patients that can be treated and prevented patients from completing full courses of treatmentXilio Therapeutics proprietary technology enables the explosion of therapeutic activity specifically within the tumor while reducing toxicity throughout the body a nod to the company name, Xilio, derived from the Latin term, Ex Nihilo, meaning creation or big-bang. The company applying its technology to build a broad pipeline of engineered antibodies, cytokines and chemokines as potential new options for people living with cancer.Xilio Therapeutics was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. | $95M | Series C | Feb 24, 2021 |  |
| Xilio Therapeutics | Xilio Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing next-generation cancer immunotherapies designed to improve patient outcomes by unleashing the power of the immune system selectively at the site of the tumor. The company’s tumor-selective immunotherapies are based on its proprietary technology, which maximizes the potency of provenimmuno-oncology therapies and restricts their activity to the tumor to minimize peripheral side effects. The broad applicability of these therapies across cancer types means that all patients could benefit from these potentially curative medicines.These tumor-selective therapies are designed to overcome the significant toxicities associated with validated IO therapies, such as IL-2 and aCTLA4, which have historically limited the number of patients that can be treated and prevented patients from completing full courses of treatmentXilio Therapeutics proprietary technology enables the explosion of therapeutic activity specifically within the tumor while reducing toxicity throughout the body a nod to the company name, Xilio, derived from the Latin term, Ex Nihilo, meaning creation or big-bang. The company applying its technology to build a broad pipeline of engineered antibodies, cytokines and chemokines as potential new options for people living with cancer.Xilio Therapeutics was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. | $100.5M | Series B | Mar 02, 2020 |  |

5 of 5 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [HealthCap](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/healthcap) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Solasta Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/solasta-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [4BIO Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/4bio-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [AbbVie](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/abbvie) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Agent Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/agent-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Atlas Venture](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/atlas-venture) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Merck

VC Fund · Kenilworth, United States

Merck is a biopharmaceutical company that offers medicines and vaccines for various diseases. The company is driven by a mission to discover, develop, and provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives.

5 contacts available at Merck.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Charles Pigneri | Associate Director Regional Marketing-RML | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/charles-pigneri |
| Fiona Marshall | Senior Vice President Head of Discovery Sciences and Translational Medicine | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fiona-marshall |
| Pamela Craig | Member of The Board of Directors | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pamela-j-craig |
| Peter Dudek | President & Managing Partner, MRL Ventures Fund | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/peter-dudek-08b4 |
| Seth Staples | Senior Scientist, Vaccine Process Development & Commercialization | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/seth-staples |

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## FAQ

### What does Peter Dudek invest in?

Peter Dudek invests primarily in Biotechnology, Health Care and Therapeutics startups, most often at Series B and Series C stage. Most of the 5 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Peter Dudek last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Peter Dudek closed in Sep 2022. Shizune tracks 5 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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