Although it has been a strong year for med-tech financings, they appear to be losing ground. While the first three months of 2021 showed a 67% increase in money raised over the same time frame in 2020, it is now showing that financing values are up by only 15% in comparison to last year.
LONDON – Cumulus Neuroscience Ltd. has raised £6 million (US$8.3 million) to advance development of its home use wearable headset for tracking response to treatment in clinical trials in psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
With 2021 biopharma financings already at 40% of last year’s total, there is a good likelihood that a new record will be made for the industry, assuming wide open public windows and robust venture capital activity continue.
DUBLIN – Michael Greve, one of Germany’s most successful internet entrepreneurs and investors, is personally committing €300 million (US$362 million) to building a portfolio of biotechnology firms focused on different aspects of aging. His investment vehicle, Kizoo Technology Capital GmbH, of Karlsruhe, has already provided seed funding to more than a dozen early stage firms. Greve is now ready to invest in follow-on rounds, particularly in four core companies he described as “category openers” in rejuvenation biotech. “We are really super focused, because there are so many things we could do,” he told BioWorld.
TORONTO – Audioptics Medical Inc. has raised a C$1.9 million (US$1.5 million) seed investment round for development of a device that visualizes and assesses the structures of the middle ear to help patients avoid surgery for conductive hearing loss. Audioptics Medical CEO Dan MacDougall told BioWorld the investment marks a major step in his company’s path towards commercial development of its flagship product, the Ossiview Middle Ear Imaging system.
The allocation of capital to the build-out of next-generation gene therapies continues apace. Dyno Therapeutics Inc., a leader in applying artificial intelligence to advanced capsid engineering, raised $100 million in a series A round to fund its expansion and that of its Capsidmap platform.
Sporos Bioventures LLC closed a $38.1 million series A financing to develop a pipeline of therapies for treating cancer and immune diseases through four companies with a business structure that its chief financial officer, Michael Wyzga, described as a hub-and-spoke model that leans on diversification.