Pleno Inc. has secured $15 million in a pre-series A financing led by Medical Excellence Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments. The proceeds will support development of startup Pleno’s Hypercoding multiomic instrument platform. In conjunction with the financing, Pleno named Gregory Lucier as chairman of its board of directors.
Proving that reproduction remains a fecund market for investment, Israeli startup Fairtility Ltd. closed a $15 million series A funding round. Led by Boston-based Gurnet Point Capital with support from Nacre Capital and others, the round boosted Fairtility’s funding to date up to $18.5 million.
After listing on the Nasdaq market on May 18, Hong Kong-based diagnostics and genetic testing company Prenetics Group Ltd. saw its shares fall nearly 30% in early trading, dropping from $8.40 per share on listing to $5.70 by the end of trading May 19. Trading under the ticker PRE, Prenetics formed a merger with Artisan Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, which was founded by entrepreneur Adrian Cheng. The transaction values Prenetics at an enterprise value of $1.25 billion, making the company the first Hong Kong unicorn to list on the Nasdaq.
Apollo Global Management Inc. is taking a minority equity interest in European venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, pledging to commit of up to €1 billion (US$1.04 billion) in managed capital to the latter’s investment coffers.