last week's news
Leukocare AG, a Martinsried/Munich, Germany and Milford, MA, USA-based biotechnology company specialized in the field of biopharmaceutical formulation development, closed a USD 17.5m (€14.6m) financing.
The round was led by Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management, with participation from existing shareholders. The financing consists of a USD 15m convertible loan and a USD 2.5m equity investment from Petrichor. Following the financing, Tadd Wessel, Founder and Managing Partner at Petrichor, will join Leukocare’s Supervisory Board. Mr. Wessel brings more than 20 years of experience in healthcare finance and, prior to founding Petrichor, served as a Managing Director at OrbiMed Advisors, where he led the build-out of the healthcare special situations and structured finance business.
Proceeds will be used to accelerate Leukocare’s US expansion activities, bolster the company’s expertise in the fields of viral vector and vaccine formulation, as well as the emerging field of mRNA formulation, and to expand its suite of bioinformatics capabilities.
Led by Michael Scholl, Chief Executive Officer, Leukocare is a biotechnology company specialized in the field of biopharmaceutical formulation development. Operating at the interface of drug substance and drug product development, the company combines sound knowledge of formulation development with bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.
Leukocare Raises USD 17.5M in Financing
Leukocare AG, a Martinsried/Munich, Germany and Milford, MA, USA-based biotechnology company specialized in the field of biopharmaceutical formulation development, closed a USD 17.5m (€14.6m) financing
NuvoAir Raises $12M in Series A Funding
NuvoAir, a Boston, MA- and and Stockholm, Sweden-based digital health company, raised $12m in Series A funding.
The round was led by AlbionVC, with participation from KAYA (formerly Enern), Amino Collective and existing shareholders Spiltan, Industrifonden and Novartis Pharma AG (dRx Capital).
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the expansion of the NuvoAir digital care platform in the U.S. and Europe; advance the development of new products and services; and support its partner and customer base for decentralized clinical trials around the world.
Led by Lorenzo Consoli, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NuvoAir is a digital health company for chronic disease management and decentralized clinical trials. The platform combines connected devices with care coordination services to enable patients suffering from COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and their providers to proactively manage chronic conditions. NuvoAir Home currently supports thousands of patients worldwide with COPD, cystic fibrosis, severe asthma, IPF, ALS, and muscular dystrophy. Its decentralized clinical trial solution has been used in over 30 studies globally across all phases of drug development. The latest addition to this platform is NuvoAir Cough, released last month, which assesses changes in nighttime coughing.
NuvoAir Raises $12M in Series A Funding | FinSMEs
NuvoAir, a Boston, MA- and and Stockholm, Sweden-based digital health company, raised $12m in Series A funding
Quanta Raises $245M In Series D Funding
Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd, an Alcester, England, and Beverly, MA-based medical technology company focusing dialysis care, raised $245m in Series D funding.
The round was led by Glenview Capital and co-led by Novo Holdings, with participation from BlackRock, Eldridge, Sands Capital, Millennium Management, Monashee Investment Management LLC., Puhua Capital, etc.
The company intends to use the funds to scale up global operations with a focus on the United States, where SC+ received 510(k) clearance from the FDA in December for use in acute and chronic care facilities, invest in infrastructure to scale up manufacturing, sales and customer service functions to support use in currently approved care settings within the United States, while also preparing to launch a study to support its future FDA clearance for in-home use within the United States.
Led by John E. Milad, CEO, Quanta has developed a portable hemodialysis system SC+, which is an hemodialysis system designed to provide flexibility in the delivery of life sustaining dialysis treatments. In the US, SC+ is FDA cleared for use in acute and chronic care facilities, and in the UK, it is CE marked, where it has been used to treat patients across a range of care settings, from the ICU and the clinic to the home.
Quanta Raises $245M In Series D Funding | FinSMEs
Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd, an Alcester, England, and Beverly, MA-based medical technology company focusing dialysis care, raised $245m in Series D funding
Tvardi Therapeutics Raises $74M in Series B Financing
Tvardi Therapeutics, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of STAT3 inhibitors, closed a $74m Series B financing.
The round was led by new investors Slate Path Capital, Palkon Capital, ArrowMark Partners, and 683 Capital, with participation from existing investors, including Sporos Bioventures. In conjunction with the financing, Jamie McNab, Partner at Slate Path Capital, will join the Tvardi Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its product candidates through multiple clinical data readouts in mid-stage trials for cancer and fibrosis.
Led by Imran Alibhai, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Tvardi Therapeutics is advancing TTI-101, which is currently being studied in a Phase 1 trial of patients with advanced solid tumors who have failed all lines of therapy. To date, TTI-101 has been well-tolerated and demonstrated multiple durable radiographic objective responses in cancer patients treated with TTI-101 monotherapy.
Tvardi Therapeutics Raises $74M in Series B Financing | FinSMEs
Tvardi Therapeutics, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of STAT3 inhibitors, closed a $74m Series B financing
Glycomine Raises $68M in Series B Funding
Glycomine, Inc., a San Carlos, Calif.-based biotechnology company focused on developing new therapies for orphan diseases, closed a $68m Series B financing.
The round, which included $35m of new funds in addition to the $33m announced in August 2019, was led by new investors, Abingworth and Sanofi Ventures, and joined by RiverVest Venture Partners and Remiges Ventures. In addition, all previous Series B investors – Novo Holdings A/S, Asahi Kasei Pharma Ventures, Mission BioCapital, Sanderling Ventures, and Chiesi Ventures – participated. In conjunction with the financing, Bali Muralidhar, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Partner with Abingworth, Jim Trenkle, Ph.D., US Head of Investments at Sanofi Ventures, and Niall O’Donnell, Ph.D., Managing Director of RiverVest, have been appointed to Glycomine’s Board of Directors.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead drug candidate, GLM101, through initial clinical trials in patients.
Led by CEO Peter McWilliams, Ph.D., Glycomine is developing orphan drugs for serious rare disorders of metabolism and protein misfolding for which no other therapeutic options exist. The company’s approach is to use replacement therapies – substrates, enzymes, or proteins – and to target those molecules to clinically relevant cellular compartments.
Glycomine Raises $68M in Series B Funding | FinSMEs
Glycomine, Inc., a San Carlos, Calif.-based biotechnology company focused on developing new therapies for orphan diseases, closed a $68m Series B financing
Lyndra Therapeutics Closes $60.5M Series C Financing
Lyndra Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a novel technology platform that transforms daily pills into once-weekly to monthly oral treatment options, closed a $60.5m Series C financing.
The round was led by new investor, AIG Investments, an affiliate of American International Group with participation from new investors Yipinhong Pharmaceutical (USA) Limited, Limitless Ventures and the Catalytic Impact Foundation with ImpactAssets, and existing investors Polaris Partners, Invus, Quark Venture, Mass General Brigham Ventures, HOPU Investments, and Gilead Sciences, Inc.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its lead product candidate into pivotal trials as they prepare for commercialization in the U.S., expand its central nervous system (CNS) pipeline assets and actively evaluate high value partnerships across a broad range of disease states.
Led by Dr. Patricia Hurter, Chief Executive Officer, and Amy Schulman, co-founder and former CEO currently serving as Executive Chair of the Board, Lyndra Therapeutics advances ultra-long-acting, extended-release oral capsule dosage form technology designed to reside in the stomach and to provide linear drug release of small molecules and peptides for a week or longer. Its lead drug candidate, LYN-005, has the potential to offer a more consistent pharmacokinetic profile with reduced dosing frequency.
Lyndra Therapeutics Closes $60.5M Series C Financing
Lyndra Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a novel technology platform that transforms daily pills into once-weekly to monthly oral treatment options, closed a $60.5m Series C financing
Novocardia Raises $53.7M in Series A Funding
Novocardia, a NYC-based provider of a cardiovascular care delivery platform, raised $53.7m in Series A financing.
The round was led by Deerfield Management Company.
The company intends to use the funds to build out its care delivery network of cardiology practices, develop its proprietary actuarial and quality-focused analytics platform and deploy its cardiovascular disease care model.
Founded in 2020 by two cardiologists, Dr. Dan Blumenthal, and Dr. Julius Torelli, FACC, Novocardia supports cardiologists in building sustainable practices which are focused on proactive approaches to treating and preventing cardiovascular disease. The company provides partner practices with access to purpose-built analytics and point-of-care tools designed to improve cardiovascular health. Additionally, Novocardia will facilitate building symbiotic relationships with health plans and primary care partners, along with an array of other capabilities, including implementation of quality and process improvement efforts, value-focused clinical programs, growth and development services, support for traditional back-office functions, and technology-enabled care delivery.
Novocardia Raises $53.7M in Series A Funding | FinSMEs
Novocardia, a NYC-based provider of a cardiovascular care delivery platform, raised $53.7m in Series A financing
Enveda Biosciences Raises $51M in Series A Financing
Enveda Biosciences, a Boulder, Colo.-based biotechnology company leveraging nature’s chemistry to develop next-gen small molecule therapeutics, raised $51M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Lux Capital, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Hummingbird VC, Catalio Capital, Lifeforce Capital, and Matthew De Silva of Notable Labs along with existing investors True Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, Village Global, and Chris Gibson of Recursion.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its existing portfolio of lead molecules and discoveries through preclinical development and ramp up recruitment efforts to expand its team across metabolomics, machine learning, medicinal chemistry, and biology.
Led by Viswa Colluru, Founder and CEO Enveda applies machine learning and metabolomics to extract medicinal value from plants. Leveraging machine learning and metabolomics, the company’s platform operates like a search engine, predicting novel chemistry at scale. This novel chemistry is then used to generate multiple high-confidence biological datasets in-house, leading to rapid identification of molecules with desired biological activity and organ distribution. These candidates then undergo in vivo and in vitro validation in Enveda’s lab, yielding drug candidates and completing a data-feedback loop into the Enveda platform.
Enveda Biosciences Raises $51M in Series A Financing | FinSMEs
Enveda Biosciences, a Boulder, Colo.-based biotechnology company leveraging nature’s chemistry to develop next-gen small molecule therapeutics, raised $51M in Series A funding
Wealthy Raises $35M in Series B Funding
Wealthy, a New York-based digital care concierge platform that partners with employers to find care for employees and their families, raised $35M in Series B funding.
The round was led by Rethink Impact with participation from Hearst, Polaris Partners, and Eldridge.
The company intends to use the funds to grow and enhance its smart recommendations engine, advance its predictive support pathways, and launch an online community where families can exchange tips and ideas with other caregivers and gain insights from experts.
Led by Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, Founder and CEO, Wellthy provides a digital care concierge platform that partners with employers to find care for employees and their families. The company uses dedicated Care Coordinators and a technology platform to project manage healthcare for families with complex, chronic, and ongoing care needs.
Wealthy Raises $35M in Series B Funding | FinSMEs
Wealthy, a New York-based digital care concierge platform that partners with employers to find care for employees and their families, raised $35M in Series B funding
Vita Therapeutics Raises $32M in Series A Financing
Vita Therapeutics, a Baltimore, Md.-based cell engineering company harnessing the power of genetics to develop cellular therapies that follow an autologous and universal hypoimmunogenic approach, raised $32m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Cambrian Biopharma with participation from Kiwoom Bio, SCM Life Sciences, and Early Light Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, James Peyer, PhD., Chief Executive Officer of Cambrian Biopharma, joined as newly appointed board member of Vita.
The company intends to use the funds for:
- the completion of all remaining IND-enabling studies for VTA-100 and its subsequent IND submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
- the manufacturing of cells needed for clinical evaluation as well as patient recruitment efforts for the first clinical trial, and
- the development of VTA-200 and the development of VTA-300, an undisclosed cell type.
Originally founded out of the labs of Dr. Gabsang Lee and Dr. Kathryn Wagner at Johns Hopkins University and the Kennedy Krieger Institute in 2019 by Douglas Falk, M.S. and Peter Andersen, PhD., Vita Therapeutics is Cambrian Biopharma-affiliated cell engineering company leveraging genetics to develop cellular therapies that follow a dual manufacturing strategy, first beginning autologously before moving to a universal hypoimmunogenic cell line.
Vita Therapeutics Raises $32M in Series A Financing
Vita Therapeutics, a Baltimore, Md.-based cell engineering company harnessing the power of genetics to develop cellular therapies that follow an autologous and universal hypoimmunogenic approach, raised $32m in Series A funding
Paceline Raises $29.5M in Series A Financing
Paceline, a San Francisco, CA-based retail health and wellness platform that incentivizes consumers to live a healthy lifestyle, closed a $29.5m Series A financing round.
The round was led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Mubadala Capital along with existing investors. Additionally, Mark McCombe, investor and Senior Managing Director of BlackRock, will join the board.
The company intends to use the funds to build out its team, expand their rewards program and further extend the rollout of a full embedded financial platform later this year.
Led by Joel Lieginger, CEO and founder, Paceline is a retail health and wellness platform that incentivizes consumers to be active with curated offerings from health and wellness brands including Home Chef, Echelon,Hyperice, and Brownie Brittle. Consumers earn health and wellness rewards for 150 minutes of elevated heart rate a week.
Paceline Raises $29.5M in Series A Financing
Paceline, a San Francisco, CA-based retail health and wellness platform that incentivizes consumers to live a healthy lifestyle, closed a $29.5m Series A financing round
Bicycle Health Raises $27M in Series A Funding
Bicycle Health, a Boston, MA-based virtual care provider of evidence based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), raised $27M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Questa Capital with participation from City Light Capital, Emily Melton and previous investor SignalFire.
The company will use the capital to expand its clinician network, partner with additional payers, invest in research and continue building local community partnerships to reach those without other treatment options.
Founded in 2017 by Ankit Gupta, CEO/Founder, Bicycle Health provides confidential, convenient and clinically-validated Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT) and Integrated Behavioral Health support via telemedicine, for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Available in over 20 states and growing, the company creates customized treatment plans for each patient, delivered by a team of medical providers, behavioral health clinicians and clinical support specialists. Treatment is delivered virtually, and includes synchronous and asynchronous access to the patient’s care team, same day prescription refills for medication management, access to peer support groups and psychotherapy, and regular in-home diagnostics testing to monitor a patient’s progress. Bicycle Health also provides referrals to primary care and community support services to address Social Determinants of Health.
Bicycle Health Raises $27M in Series A Funding | FinSMEs
Bicycle Health, a Boston, MA-based virtual care provider of evidence based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), raised $27M in Series A funding
Hospital IQ Raises $25M in Series C Funding
Hospital IQ, a Newton, Mass.-based provider of predictive hospital operations and communications software, secured $25m in Series C funding.
The round was led by Baxter Ventures, the venture investment arm of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), and Health Velocity Capital, which joined existing investors Pierpoint Capital and Allscripts.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth across all of its business areas, including product development, sales and marketing, and client services, and to spur further collaboration with its existing Allscripts and Cerner partnerships, as well as support new partnerships.
Led by Rich Krueger, CEO, Hospital IQ provides an operations management software platform that uses artificial intelligence to anticipate and direct actions, enabling health systems to achieve and sustain peak operational performance to improve patient access, clinical outcomes and financial performance. Its cloud-based software platform combines advanced data analytics, machine learning and simulation technology with an intuitive user interface to deliver optimized surgical resource alignment, patient flow, and staff scheduling capabilities.
Hospital IQ Raises $25M in Series C Funding
Hospital IQ, a Newton, Mass.-based provider of predictive hospital operations and communications software, secured $25m in Series C funding
Spiras Health Raises $14M in Series B Funding
Spiras Health, a Nashville, Tenn.-based provider of in-home and virtual healthcare solutions for patients with complex chronic conditions, raised $14M in Series B funding.
The round was led by NEA, with participation from existing investors Altitude Ventures, FCA Venture Partners, and other strategic investors.
The company intends to use the funds for new market launches, sales and marketing teams hiring and management team formation, as well as R&D with technological development.
Led by CEO Scott A. Bowers, Spiras Health is a clinical provider of care management and other health-related services to individuals with complex and chronic needs. Its approach to care delivery includes a combination of home-based services, telehealth, two-way digital communications and remote patient monitoring. Proprietary predictive modeling identifies and assesses individuals with an elevated probability of avoidable costs. Spiras Health then develops actionable plans of care, addresses barriers including social determinants of health and delivers high quality patient care.
Spiras Health Raises $14M in Series B Funding
Spiras Health, a Nashville, Tenn.-based provider of in-home and virtual healthcare solutions for patients with complex chronic conditions, raised $14M in Series B funding
Gliknik Raises $11.5M in Series C Financing
Gliknik Inc., a Baltimore, MD-based immunology company dedicated to patients with cancer and autoimmune disorders, completed an $11.5m Series C financing.
The round was led by First In Ventures (FIV) with participation from SAISO Partners and affiliates of RDA Ventures and Garden Street Holdings. Kyle Rusconi, a founder of FIV, is joining the Gliknik Board.
Led by CEO David Block, Gliknik is an immunology company creating and advancing biologic drugs for patients with cancer and autoimmune disorders. The company, which has secured $81m to date, intends to use the funds to progress the pipeline of its product candidates, including:
- A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 study of Gliknik immuno-oncology compound biropepimut-S, which is nearing completion,
- Gliknik immune modulating compound GL-2045, a recombinant mimetic of pooled human IVIG, which is a potent clinical candidate under active development by Gliknik licensee Pfizer for autoimmune diseases.
- GL-0719 is a new type of complement modulator, which is designed to control diseases while leaving critical host defense systems intact. GL-0719 is poised to enter a phase 1 trial in 2021.
- Other compounds in preclinical development
Gliknik Raises $11.5M in Series C Financing
Gliknik Inc., a Baltimore, MD-based immunology company dedicated to patients with cancer and autoimmune disorders, completed an $11.5m Series C financing
TRIPP Raises $11M in Funding
TRIPP, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based digital psychedelic platform, raised $11M in funding.
The round was led by Vine Ventures, and Mayfield with participation from Integrated, AlphaBridge Ventures, Beni VC, Berkeley Club, CJ Group, CTR Capital, Evolution, Robert Goldberg, Tony Greenberg, Grit VC, Incisive Ventures, Inflect Health, Iter Investments, Joanna Popper, Jim Dew, Joe Polish, JLS Fund, Lionheart Ventures, Matt Mullenweg, Mike DeLuise, Murtaza Hussain, NeoKuma, Presence Capital, PsyMed Ventures, Redbeard Ventures, Re.Mind Capital, Social Leverage, WhatIf Ventures, Mike Wilson, Mark Zittman and other individual investors.
The company intends to use the funds to continue growing both its team and user base, further R&D, and expand its adaptive platform to support cross-platform distribution.
Led by Nanea Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder, Chief Business Officer Mani Srinivasan, and CTO Jason Asbahr, TRIPP provides a platform which immerses users into alternate realities that promote emotional wellbeing and transformative states through the use of psychedelic visuals and targeted sounds/interactions. The company has already delivered more than two million TRIPP sessions on the Oculus and PlaystationVR platforms.
TRIPP Raises $11M in Funding | FinSMEs
Tripp, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based digital psychedelic platform, raised $11M in funding
Nuevocor Closes US$24M Series A Financing
Nuevocor, a Singapore-based preclinical-stage biotech company specializing in gene therapy for cardiomyopathies, closed a $24m Series A financing round.
The round was co-led by EVX Ventures and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), with EDBI, Xora Innovation, SEEDS Capital and other investors joining the syndicate.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the preclinical development of its lead program, an adeno-associated virus (AAV) – based gene therapy for patients suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) due to mutations in the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene and to address other untreatable cardiomyopathies using their novel target discovery platform.
Led by founding CEO Dr Yann Chong Tan, Nuevocor is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing AAV gene therapy for the treatment of genetically defined cardiac diseases with high unmet need. Its lead program, lamin A/C dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA DCM) gene therapy is based on decades of research into fundamental mechanisms underlying LMNA-associated disease enabled by development of novel technologies on the part of scientific co-founders Colin Stewart and Brian Burke of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Together with AAV gene therapy and cardiac disease modelling expertise of scientific co-founders Mark Kay from Stanford University and Jianming Jiang from the National University of Singapore respectively, Nuevocor is positioned to treat LMNA and other genetic cardiomyopathies, amongst other cardiac diseases.