Houston-based startup Braincheck Inc. scooped up $8 million in series A funding in a round led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners, along with True Wealth Ventures and Nueterra Capital. Braincheck launched its digital cognitive assessment tool in 2015 and a cognitive care planning solution in 2018, and now the company is looking to broaden its footprint with physician practices, hospitals and health systems. Proceeds from the financing will help to build the company's sales and marketing and clinical development teams in Houston, as well as production development staff in Austin.

Cygnal Therapeutics Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup devoted to developing new cancer and immunotherapy drugs, has raised $65 million from Flagship Pioneering to advance research in a field it is calling "exoneural biology" in an effort to deliver relief via the peripheral nervous system. The company is led by Pearl Huang, a veteran of Roche Holding AG and Glaxosmithkline plc. Calling exoneural biology "a new way to look at something that has always been there," she said Cygnal's platform has uncovered "new drivers of disease that are both profound and actionable."

PARIS – Carmat SA, from Vélizy Villacoublay, France, has just raised $66 million from European specialist investors in the life sciences and medical technologies sector.

In the third quarter, global biopharmaceutical companies collectively raised more than $12 billion from public and private transactions. Year to date (YTD), the sector has generated $41.5 billion, according to BioWorld data, putting it on track for a $55 billion haul for the year. 

Heading into the final quarter, the sector's leading biopharmaceutical companies once again underperformed the general market in September. Overall, the third quarter was extremely lackluster with investors showing little interest in getting involved, a situation that is likely to prevail until the end of the year. Companies will need to release strong 3Q financial reports just to tread water in the coming months. 

At just under $30 billion raised through the third quarter, company financings have reached a three-year high in the ever-burgeoning industry of medical technology. The amount, according to data collected by BioWorld MedTech, compares with $25.76 billion for all of 2018, and $19.4 billion for all of 2017, indicating an increase of 15% and 53%, respectively.

In the third quarter, global biopharmaceutical companies collectively raised more than $12 billion from public and private transactions. Year to date (YTD), the sector has generated $41.5 billion, according to BioWorld data, putting it on track for a $55 billion haul for the year.

PERTH, Australia – Australian cell therapy developer Mesoblast Ltd. has completed a AU$75 million (US$50.32 million) capital raising via an oversubscribed placement to existing and new Australian and global institutional investors.

Tenaya Therapeutics Inc. CEO Faraz Ali told BioWorld that the company, which raised $92 million in a series B round, has programs from three cardiac platforms "stacked on top of each other" and wants to enter the clinic by the end of 2021 "with at least one of the multiple projects we're advancing." The South San Francisco-based firm wanted not to "let resources be the barrier" as to which goes first, he said. "We wanted the science to dictate that."