HONG KONG – South Korea's 3billion Inc., a rare genetic diseases diagnosis startup based in Seoul, has secured ?11.4 billion (US$9.6 million) in a series B investment. The company was founded in 2016 as a spinoff of Macrogen Inc., a Seoul-based genetic sequencing biotech, and raised ?3 billion in a series A funding last year.
HONG KONG – Kobiolabs Inc., a microbiome-based venture from Seoul, South Korea, has secured a ?26.6 billion (US$22.2 million) investment. Founded in 2014, the venture has achieved ?193 billion of enterprise value.
LONDON – Mogrify Ltd. raised $16 million in the first close of a series A that it expects to at least double before closing the round in the next 12 months.
Aytu BioScience Inc., of Englewood, Colo., said it entered into definitive agreements with institutional investors Altium Capital and Armistice Capital for the purchase and sale in a private placement of $10 million of series F convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock.
HONG KONG – Accelmed, a group of health tech funds, has established a new venture capital fund named Accelmed Ventures II. The fund has the goal of raising and managing approximately $100 million for investment in Israeli and global pre-revenue health tech startups.
Even priced at a bottom-of-range $20, shares of Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR) fell 30% to $14.02 in the first day of trading after the infectious disease specialist priced a $142.9 million IPO, intended to back its development of medicines targeting hepatitis B virus, influenza A, HIV and tuberculosis. The company, led by former Biogen Inc. CEO George Scangos, is largely owned by Arch Venture Partners and Softbank's Vision Fund.
Medicenna Therapeutics Corp., of Toronto, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, said it filed a short form prospectus, which has been received by the regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, in connection with the marketed offering of units.
Australian digital medication management company Medadvisor Ltd. raised AU$17 million (US$11.4 million) via an oversubscribed placement in which U.S. health care solution provider HMS Holdings Corp. was a cornerstone investor, putting up $11 million and becoming the firm's largest shareholder with a 13% stake in the digital health company.
HONG KONG – Upin & Co. Ltd., a fund and asset management company headquartered in London, plans to invest a total of KRW2 trillion (US$1.7 billion) over three years in the South Korean biopharma industry. The U.K. company will use a European fund and human resources network to organize the K-Bio Medical Development Fund (KBMDF), which will include funds of KRW300 billion for the first round, KRW700 billion for the second, and KRW1 trillion for the third round.
Nicox SA, of Sophia Antipolis, France, which is developing a nitric oxide-donating platform, said it amended its bond financing agreement with Kreos Capital and has drawn down an additional €4 million (US$4.4 million) of debt under the bond financing.