PARIS – Four years after being set up in Marseilles, France, Volta Medical SAS reported raising $28 million in a series A round for the VX1 software mapping system, an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that is compatible with most readily available multipolar catheters and technology used in operating rooms and cath labs to treat cardiac arrhythmia.
Spectrawave Inc. has scooped up $13.2 million in a series A-2 financing led by prior investor Deerfield Management. The funds will be used to complete development and regulatory filing for its flagship cardiac imaging technology. Prior unnamed seed investors also participated in the round. With this latest infusion, Spectrawave has raised a total of approximately $30 million to date.
Boston-based Nirogy Therapeutics Inc.’s $16.5 million series A round is meant to enable a pipeline of small-molecule drugs targeting the solute carrier family of transporter proteins (SLCTs) embedded in the cell membrane, and let the firm bring its front oncology runner to the clinic in 2022.
Liquid biopsy startup Delfi Diagnostics Inc. scooped up $100 million in a series A round led by Orbimed Advisors LLC. The company will use the funds to grow its team of cancer researchers and machine learning experts and to validate its next-generation blood-based testing technology in prospective clinical trials. Existing investors Menlo Ventures, Samsara Biocapital, Illumina Ventures, Av8 Ventures also participated in the round, along with new investors Foresite Capital, Northpond Ventures, Cowen Healthcare Investments and Rock Springs Capital.
San Diego area startup Endeavor Biomedicines Inc. launched in January 2021, with a $62 million series A financing from Omega Funds, Longitude Capital and its own management team. The company is working on one asset, ENV-101 or taladegib, a small-molecule inhibitor targeting the Hedgehog pathway, which it plans to develop for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
LONDON – Theolytics Ltd. raised $6.8 million in a series A round to further develop its platform technology and advance the lead oncolytic virus program toward the clinic.
Lexeo Therapeutics Inc., a New York-based startup initially advancing clinical and near-clinical stage candidates for Friedreich’s ataxia, CLN2 and Alzheimer's diseases, has raised an $85 million series A financing round led by Longitude Capital and Omega Funds. Founded by gene therapy development veteran Ronald Crystal, the company is led by CEO Nolan Townsend, the former head of Pfizer Inc.'s rare disease efforts in North America.
Abcuro Inc. raised $42 million in a series A-1 round to progress preclinical programs in autoimmune disease and cancer involving a largely overlooked immune checkpoint receptor, killer cell lectin-like receptor G1 (KLRG1).
A new $23 million in funds gives Brainbox Solutions Inc. a head start as it begins enrollment in the pivotal clinical trial of its mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnostic and prognostic test. Bioventures Investors took the lead in the series A financing. The Tauber Foundation, the Virginia Tech Carilion Innovation and Seed Funds, Genoa VC, Pharmakon Holdings LLC, and Astia Angels participated in the fundraising round along with qualified investors including the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kevin Love, a mental health advocate.
Iconovir Bio Inc., of San Diego, raised $77 million in a series A financing to develop differentiated oncolytic virus candidates the company said it believes could potentially be I.V.-administered, tumor-selective and could broadly infect tumor cells.