Home » Venture Capital And Other Financings Of Private Biotechnology Firms
Venture Capital And Other Financings Of Private Biotechnology Firms
Jan. 1, 1998
Company
Location
Amount
Investors Month
3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc. (3rd round)
Exton, Pa.
12.5
Rho Management Co. Inc. led this round of financing, which included new investors the State of Michigan Retirement Systems, Abingworth Bioventures and SenMed Medical Ventures as well as existing investors Healthcare Ventures III and IV and Philadelphia Ventures (3/97)
Abgenix Inc. (other)
Fremont, Calif.
20
Abgenix sold 3.1M shares of Series B convertible preferred stock at $6.50/share to a group of new investors led by the Omega Funds and including Mehta & Isaly, Lombard Odier, New York Life, Forward Ventures and SE Banken; BancAmerica Robertson Stephens and Co. LLC. lead the placement and Lehman Brothers acted as the co-manager (12/97)
The consortium of Danish investors that participated in the company¿s 1st round of financing (2/97) contributed $3M in the 2nd round; these include Dansk Kapital- anlaeg Aktieselskab, BankInvest, LD Pension Fund and Municipal Employee Life Insurance Co. (8/97)
Apoptogen Inc. (1st round)
Ottawa, Ontario
5.8
The company raised US$5.8M from one of its original investors (unnamed) as well as Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, Neurosciences Partners Limited Partnership, Sofinov Societe Financiere D¿Innovation Inc. and Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. (prices converted at a rate of C$1.38/US$1) (9/97)
Biopure Corp. (other)
Cambridge, Mass.
50
This private placement was underwritten in 2 parts; in the 1st, Shoreline Pacific Institutional Finance managed the placement of $29M in Series C convertible preferred stock with Oaktree Capital Management and New England Partners; in the 2nd, Biopure placed $22.6M in Series B convertible preferred stock with the assistance of Auerbach, Pollak & Richardson Inc.; investors included Zesiger Capital Group, Fanueil Hall Associates, Aspen Venture Partners and Schooner Capital Corp. (12/97)
Biovector Therapeutics SA (mezzanine)
Toulouse, France
18
This financing round was oversubscribed; Dresdner Kleinwort Benson led the financing, which attracted new European institutional investors (not disclosed); Biovector¿s current investors include 3i plc, Atlas Venture Europe, Banexi, Biotechnology Investments Ltd., CDC Innovation, JAFCO, Sofinnova, Sudinnova and Techno Venture Management (7/97)
Caliper Technologies Corp. (2nd round)
Palo Alto, Calif.
1.5
Caliper received $1.5M in equity financing from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and a fund advised by Mehta and Isaly Asset Management as part of its 2nd round Series C financing (the initial closing of this round, in 10/96, raised $8.5M) (3/97)
Caliper Technologies Corp. (3rd round)
Palo Alto, Calif.
15
Caliper raised $15M in this part of its Series D financing (it also sold $5M in the Series D round separately to corporate collaborator The Dow Chemical Co. in 2/97); venture participants included current investors Lombard Odier & Cie, State Farm Insurance and Venrock Associates; new investors included Tredegar Investments and BB BioVentures (7/97)
Calydon Inc. (2nd round)
Menlo Park, Calif.
11.9
Previous investor Sequoia Capital participated in this round, along with Genesis Merchant Group, Perseus Capital and a large group of private individuals (12/97)
Cambridge Combina- torial Ltd. (seed financing)
Cambridge, U.K.
3.5
Cambridge Combinatorial was established as a spinoff of Oxford Molecular Group plc (LSE:OMG), which provided seed financing of $3.5M (giving it a 20take) (2/97)
Cell Pathways Inc. (5th round)
West Conshohocken, Pa.
17.5
Participants in the company¿s Series F financing included new investors Goldman Sachs, New York Life, Gem Capital Management, Doerge Capital Management and SenMed Ventures; also participating were former investors Jackson Boulevard Partners, Northwood Ventures, Technology Partners and Vulcan Ventures (6/97)
Chromos Molecular Systems Inc. (2nd round)
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
8
The syndicated financing was led by Chromos¿ bankers, the Royal Bank of Canada, and included Working Opportunities Fund Ltd., GeneChem Management Ltd., Trian Tera Capital Inc., INEX Pharmaceutical Corp. and private investors in the U.S. and Canada (7/97)
CpG Immuno- Pharmaceuticals Inc. (1st round)
Iowa City, Iowa
6.3
This round of financing was led by Techno Ventures Management and (unnamed) individual investors (Qiagen NV provided the seed financing in 3/97) (9/97)
Cyclacel Ltd. (1st round)
Dundee, Scotland
4.1
The Merlin Fund, a new, dedicated biosciences venture capital fund, made its 1st investment in Cyclacel; the associated firm Merlin Ventures Ltd. provided $0.4M in seed financing to Cyclacel in 11/96 (prices converted at a rate of #0.61/US$1) (6/97)
New investors participating in this round included Kummel Investments Ltd., New York Life Insurance Co. and Singapore Bio-Innovations Inc. They were joined by previous investors Sanderling, Vulcan Northwest Ventures, HealthCare Investment Corp. and Shaw Ventures (9/97)
Desmos Inc. (3rd round)
San Diego
9
New investors participating in this financing round included Biotechvest LP, Graystone Venture Partners, The Goldman Sachs Group LP and Sorrento Ventures. Current investors Alta Partners, Sanderling and the Walden Group also participated (9/97)
Digital Gene Technologies Inc. (2nd round)
La Jolla, Calif.
4
A group of private investors (unnamed, but including new investors as well as current shareholders of the company) contributed $4M in this oversubscribed round (9/97)
Dyax Corp. (1st round)
Cambridge, Mass.
13.5
New investors GMM Investors and BancBoston Ventures participated in this round (the first since Dyax was formed in 1995 via the merger of Biotage Inc. and Protein Engineering Corp.); existing investors Prince Ventures, New York Life Venture Capital, Oak Investment Partner, Gateway Associates, Hambrecht & Quist LLC and Loeb Partners also participated (4/97)
Eurogene Ltd. (seed round)
London
0.4
This new company was established by Merlin Ventures Ltd. and The Cruciform Project (of University College, London) (prices converted at a rate of #0.61/US$1) (6/97)
Exelixis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (2nd round)
Cambridge, Mass.
15.8
This financing was led by Bowman Capital Management and included new investors Biotechvest, Invesco Trust Co., Maverick Capital, Life Science Partners, Armen Partners, the private funds of BancAmerica Robertson Stephens & Co. and others, as well as all of the company¿s original investors (4/97)
Gene Logic Inc. (2nd round)
Columbia, Md.
20
Gene Logic raised $20M in a private placement of Series C convertible preferred stock; the financing was led by Biotechvest LP and included new investors WPG-Farber Weber Fund, Tisch family interests, Goldman Sachs, Niederhoffer Funds, GeneChem Technologies Venture Fund, PVJ Pension Fund, Cresta Ltd. and Hambrecht & Quist LLC; previous investors included Oxford Bioscience Partners, Hambro Health International, New York Life Insurance Co., Altamira Management Ltd. and GIMV Investment Corp. (7/97)
Genome Pharma- ceuticals Corp. GmbH (seed round)
Munich, Germany
3.5
This seed financing was led by BB BioVentures, with Techno Venture Management as co-investor (10/97)
Genomica Corp. (1st round)
Boulder, Colo.
7.5
Investors in this financing included Falcon Technology Partners LP, INVESCO Trust Co., ARCH Venture Partners LP, Harris & Harris Group Inc., Boulder Ventures Ltd. and Pegasus Technology Ventures (10/97)
Genzyme Molecular Oncology (unit of Genzyme Corp.) (other)
Framingham, Mass.
20
The company placed an aggregate of $20M of 6 onvertible debentures due 2002 with institutional investors; the debentures will be convertible into common shares of Genzyme Molecular Oncology at a discount to market at the time of conversion; Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. acted as the placement agent (9/97)
Gryphon Sciences Inc. (other)
South San Francisco
1
Gryphon Sciences secured a $1M credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank and a partnership managed by Meier Mitchell & Co. (6/97)
Hepatix Inc. (3rd round)
La Jolla, Calif.
3
Current shareholders Chase Venture Capital Associates LP, Alta Partners LP and Woodland/Essex invested in this round (10/97)
ICAgen Inc. (3rd round)
Research Triangle Park, N.C.
5.7
ICAgen raised $5.7M in its Series D financing; the company¿s original investors Medical Science Partners, Betainvest and others were joined in this round by new investors Venrock Associates, Healthcare Opportunities Fund, the Merchant Bank of Credit Agricole and others (5/97)
InSite Clinical Trials LLC (2nd round)
Cary, N.C.
5
The company received $3.8M in equity financing and a commitment for an additional $1.2M from Acacia Venture Partners and its affiliates (8/97)
Inspire Pharma- ceuticals Inc. (2nd round)
Durham, N.C.
13
Original investors Burr, Egan Deleage & Co., Domain Associates, Intersouth Partners and Medical Science Partners were joined in this round by new investors Benefit Capital Management Corp., JAFCO and Children¿s Health Investment Corp. (10/97)
IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (mezzanine)
Sunnyvale, Calif.
10
The Series D financing was led by the Spinnaker Technology Fund, with the participation of Prince Capital LP and previous investors The Sprout Group, Brinson Partners, St. Paul Ventures, IASD Health Services Corp., New York Life Insurance Co. and Singapore Bio-Innovations of America Inc. (4/97)
IntroGene BV (3rd round)
Leiden, Netherlands
14.4
Existing shareholders were joined in this round by new investors BFV (Flanders Biotech Fund), Kleinwort Benson Ltd. and Merifin Capital BV, as well as IntroGene employees; previous investors included Atlas Venture, Advent International Inc., Alta Partners, GIMV and 3i plc (12/97)
The Medicines Co. (2nd round)
Cambridge, Mass.
25
Leading investors in this financing included BB Biotech AG and Warburg, Pincus Ventures LP (6/97)
Megabios Corp. (4th round)
Burlingame, Calif.
14
This financing was led by Megabios¿ current institutional investors, including Lombard Odier, as well as several new unnamed European investors (6/97)
Metabolex Inc. (mezzanine)
Hayward, Calif.
33.5
Metabolex raised $29.5M from John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. and an additional $4M (in the form of an equity investment) from corporate partner Abbott Laboratories; Hancock¿s investment is in the form of units, each consisting of 1 share stock and a put option, giving it a 20take; Abbott¿s stake is less than 5% (6/97)
MetaMorphix Inc. (2nd round)
Baltimore
2.8
MetaMorphix received $2.75M in financing from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development¿s Enterprise Investment Fund and from Genetics Institute Inc. (which established the company together with The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1995) (2/97)
Microscience Ltd. (seed round)
London
0.4
This new company was established by Merlin Ventures Ltd. and RPMS Technology (the technology transfer subsidiary of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School) in London (prices converted at a rate of #0.61 per US$1) (6/97)
MitoKor Inc. (3rd round)
San Diego
16.1
This financing round was led by Domain Partners III LP and Biotechnology Investments Ltd., who were joined by existing investors Alta Partners, Forward Ventures, MDS Capital Corp., Biotechvest LP, Sorrento Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures III, ThornerVentures and others (not disclosed) (7/97)
Modex Therapeutiques SA (1st round)
Lausanne, Switzerland
5.6
Modex, which was established by CytoTherapeutics Inc. in 7/96, has now been spun off as an independent company; as part of the transaction, U.S. and European investors, led by Alta Partners, Alta Berkeley Associates and the Lombard Odier Immunology Fund, invested $5.6M in Modex; in this transaction, Modex got a $1.6M bridge loan, was relieved from a $0.5M short-term debt to CytoTherapeutics and gained control of 50f its common stock; CytoTherapeutics reduced its ownership from 50% to 25 0n exchange for $4M cash payment (11/97)
MorphoSys GmbH (2nd round)
Munich, Germany
11.5
MorphoSys raised $11.5M from European investors; existing shareholders participating in this round included Korda Associates, Atlas Venture, JAFCO and 3i plc; new investors included International Biotechnology Trust; CDC Participation and Techno Venture Management (7/97)
Nanogen Inc. (4th round)
San Diego
26.2
Nanogen raised $26.2M through the sale of Series C preferred stock; existing investors participating in this round included Birndorf Biotech, Enterprise Partners, InterWest Partners, Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers and The Sprout Group. They were joined by new investors Elan Corp. plc, Oracle Strategic Partners, AIG, INVESCO, MDS Health Ventures, Vulcan Ventures, Techno Ventures and Integral Capital Partners (the lead investor); Cowen & Co. acted as the placement agent (3/97)
Neocrin Co. (3rd round)
Irvine, Calif.
16.5
Funding in this round came from a consortium of new investors, led by Warburg, Pincus Ventures and including Pacific Horizon Partners, the Vertical Fund Association, Oakwood Investors and Community Investment Partners. Also participating were existing investors Domain Partners, Biotechnology Investments Ltd., Asset Management, Alliance Technology Ventures, Forrest Binkley & Brown, New Enterprise Associates, Hancock Venture Partners, Sofinnova Venture Partners and GIMV (Belgium); Hambrecht & Quist LLC served as the placement agent (9/97)
NephRx Inc. (seed round)
Chicago
0.2
The Illinois Development Finance Authority invested $0.11M in NephRx; this financing was matched by an equal investment of $0.11M from ARCH Development Corp. (10/97)
NetGenics Inc. (1st round)
Cleveland
6.5
NetGenics raised $6.5M from investors Oxford Bioscience Partners, Venrock Associates, Edgewater Private Equity Fund II, John Pappajohn, Crystal Internet Venture Fund, Casdin Life Sciences Partners and Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. (a corporate collaborator, which invested $2M of the $6.5M) (6/97)
Neurotech SA (1st round)
Paris
3
Neurotech raised US$3M (FF15M) in a private offering; investors included CDC Innovation, Atlas Venture, Sofinnova and Banexi Ventures (4/97)
Ontogeny Inc. (mezzanine)
Cambridge, Mass.
25
Ontogeny¿s board of directors and original investors were joined by new institutional investors in this private placement of preferred stock; although the company did not identify any of the investors in this round, its principal investors in the past have been Charles River Ventures, Greylock Management, J.H. Whitney, Medical Science Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and One Liberty Ventures; in this round, Musket Research Associates assisted Ontogeny with the placement and NationsBanc Montgomery Securities acted as financial advisor (3/97)
Orquest Inc.(mezzanine)
Mountain View, Calif.
15
Both current and new investors participated in this financing; they included Asset Management Associates, Charter Ventures, The Mayfield Fund, Nikko Capital, Nippon Investment & Finance Co., Pacific Horizons Partners, The Sprout Group, the State of Michigan Retirement Systems and Weiss, Peck & Greer (8/97)
Oxford Glyco- Sciences plc (5th round)
Oxford, U.K.
12.9
The company raised US$12.9M in this financing round, of which US$8.9M came from existing investors; new investors included Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, 3i Capital and Merifin Capital (prices converted at a rate of 0.62/US$1) (8/97)
Pangaea Pharma- ceuticals Inc. (2nd round)
Cambridge, Mass.
3.5
Previous investors Medical Science Partners and Walden Ventures were joined in this round by Viking, Credit Agricole and UI USA, BioCapital and Health Opportunities Fund (9/97)
Pangea Systems Inc. (1st round)
Oakland, Calif.
10
The investors included Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers and The Mayfield Fund (2/97)
Point Therapeutics Inc. (formerly Immune Therapeutics Inc.) (seed round)
Boston
2.8
Lead investors in the company¿s initial financing were Claflin Capital Management and Graystone Venture Partners (10/97)
Prizm Pharma- ceuticals Inc. (4th round)
San Diego
4.2
Participating in this Series E financing were existing investors Biotechvest, Chase Venture Capital, Domain/BIL, Forrest Binkley & Brown, Forward Ventures, Oxford Bioscience, Sofinnova, The Sprout Group, Techno Venture Management, Venkol and Ventures Medical (9/97)
ProdiGene Inc. (1st round)
College Station, Texas
3
ProdiGene, formerly Terramed Inc., completed its merger with the former Protein Products division of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. and simultaneously closed on its 1st round of preferred financing from the Am Fund, Javelin Ventures, IASD Health Services Corp. and several private investors (2/97)
Protein Sciences Corp. (other)
Meriden, Conn.
10
Protein Sciences has arranged with Burnham Securities Inc. for a bridge financing of up to $10M in the form of secured notes with warrants (4/97)
Protein Sciences Corp. (mezzanine- plus)
Meriden, Conn.
4
Protein Sciences raised $4M through the sale of secured notes with warrants; Burnham Securities Inc. managed the financing (8/97)
Receptor Technologies Inc. (1st round)
Winooski, Vt.
13.5
The company received $13.5M (comprised of equity and debt financing) from a consortium of Danish investors and a government fund; as part of the financing, Receptor Technologies will establish a subsidiary in Denmark; $6M in equity capital was provided by Dansk Kapitalanlaeg Aktieselskab, BankInvest LD Pensions and Municipal Employee Life Insurance Co.; also, $7.5M in debt financing will be provided by the Danish Business Development Finance Agency (2/97)
RiboGene Inc. (6th round)
Hayward, Calif.
5.1
RiboGene raised $5.1M in a placement of units, each consisting of 1 share Series F preferred stock and 1 Class A warrant; the financing was led by The Aries Funds and included unnamed new investors as well as current investors Aperture Associates, CW Group, Dominion Ventures, Donaldson Capital Management, Oxford Bioscience Partners and Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers; Paramount Capital acted as the placement agent (6/97)
RiboTargets Ltd. (1st round)
London
11.5
RiboTargets was formed by researchers at the U.K.¿s Medical Research Council; the financing was provided by lead investor T. Apax Partners & Co., 3i plc, Advent Ltd. and Kargoe (7/97)
RTP Pharma Inc. (3rd round)
Montreal
2.2
RTP Pharma, which U.S.-based Research Triangle Pharmaceuticals Inc. set up as a Canadian affiliate in 12/96, raised US$2.2M from Societe Generale de Finacement du Quebec (prices converted at a rate of C$1.39/US$1) (6/97)
Sensus Drug Development Corp. (3rd round)
Austin, Texas
23.4
The lead investor in this Series C financing was Ross Financial Corp.; other investors included The Goldman Sachs Group LP, Javelin Capital Fund LP and other individuals who had participated in previous rounds; NationsBanc Montgomery Securities served as the placement agent (10/97)
Signal Pharmaceuticals Inc. (mezzanine)
San Diego
12
This oversubscribed Series E financing was lead- managed by Lehman Brothers with Hambrecht & Quist LLC and BancAmerica Robertson Stephens & Co. as co-managers; new investors included Lombard Odier, Mehta & Isaly, New York Life, MDS Capital, Robertson Stephens Partners and Ares Serono. Existing investors participating in this round included Venrock Associates, Accel Partners, InterWest Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Harry Hixon, the Vertical Group and Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers (9/97)
Structural Bioinform- atics Inc. (2nd round)
San Diego
5
This financing round was led by Biotechnology Development Fund and included New York Life, E.J. Financial (both previous investors), Nina
