April 18 (Reuters) - Weight-loss drug developer Metsera

has raised $290 million in funding, led by biotech investor ARCH

Venture Partners as well as participation from firms such as

SoftBank and Mubadala Capital, the company said on Thursday.

The funding comes at a time when multiple drug companies are

competing to grab a slice of the weight-loss drug market, which

is estimated by analysts to reach at least $100 billion by the

end of the decade.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ( LLY ) are so far

leading with their powerful and highly popular new GLP-1 drugs

Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively.

Metsera, founded in 2022 by venture capital firm ARCH

Venture and investment firm Population Health Partners, is

developing injectable and oral drugs to treat obesity, based on

the GLP-1 mechanism as well as other biological targets.

The company's GLP-1 portfolio is led by an injectable in

early stages of trial.

"There are other great companies around as Viking on the

injectable and oral side, as well as Structure on the small

molecule side," Chief Executive Officer Clive Meanwell said.

"I think our goal in the next 12 months is to attain those

sorts of standards and milestones," Meanwell told Reuters.

Metsera's $290 million in funding is the total amount of

capital raised to date from a syndicate of leading healthcare

investors and is comprised of a seed round plus Series A

financing, Meanwell said.

Meanwell declined to comment on the valuation the funding

was raised on.

The funding participants include F-Prime Capital, GV,

Mubadala Capital, Newpath Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and

other undisclosed investors.

Meanwell served as the CEO of The Medicines Company for

nearly two decades, which was acquired by Swiss drugmaker

Novartis for $9.7 billion in 2019.

He then founded Population Health in 2020 with former Pfizer

CEO Ian Read.