Biopharma startups seeking a mix of financial, strategic and operational support gained a new option May 12 with the announcement of Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund II from Perceptive Advisors LLC. The fund, expected to lead series A financings in the range of $20 million to $40 million closed with $515 million in capital commitments. It's led by portfolio manager and CEO Chris Garabedian, who also serves as chairman and CEO of Xontogeny LLC, a Boston-based accelerator.
China saw $28.5 billion invested in its life sciences sector in 2020, which was double the previous year’s amount and sets a five-year high. Partnering activities and IPOs also grew exponentially over the last five years to set records.
PARIS – Microsure BV reported closing a $3.25 million funding round to develop its supermicrosurgery robot, Musa. This series B round was led by Dutch investment agency Invest-NL NV. The other 50% of the funding came from existing Dutch shareholders Brabant Development Agency NV and venture capital partners Innovation Industries Fund, as well as from Ten Cate Investreingsmaatschappij BV.
Biopharmas in Asia-Pacific raising money in public or private financings, including: Alebund, Cocrystal, Resverlogix, Shenzhen Hepalink, Summit Healthcare Acquisition, Valneva.
Appia Bio Inc. raised $52 million in a series A funding round to bring forward a novel take on allogeneic cell therapy for cancer, based on a rare lymphocyte population, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which exhibit aspects of both NK cell and T-cell biology.
Flagship Pioneering, the company-creating venture fund that launched Moderna Inc. in 2012, is betting $50 million on a new twist in RNA-focused development at Laronde Inc. Leveraging its explorations of the therapeutic applicability of long non-coding RNA, Flagship CEO Noubar Afeyan said the company has created Endless RNA (eRNA), "a new class of medicines that can be programmed to persistently express therapeutic proteins in the body, at tunable levels."
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