HONG KONG – D3 Bio Inc. is the new kid on the biopharma block in Shanghai, kicking off with a $200 million series A financing backed by some of Asia’s most prominent venture capital firms.

Following steady expansion of its base among global pharmaceutical companies, Correlia Biosystems Inc. has secured the capital needed to make its nanotechnology-based immunoassay platform commercially available. The company received an infusion of $7 million in series A financing in a round led by Neotribe Ventures with participation by Cota Capital, the Regents of the University of California and others.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy startup Limaca Medical Ltd. has raised $1.25 million of a $1.5 million round to advance its next-generation Precision device. The company said it will use the funds to complete first-in-human procedures, conduct postmarket clinical studies and gain regulatory approvals of Precision for gastrointestinal (GI) system and adjacent organ tumors.

PARIS – Carmat SA has closed an $11.8 million loan in the form of a government-backed loan from a French banking syndicate. In an environment made uncertain by the COVID-19 crisis, Carmat will be able to continue its clinical development program on its total artificial heart, undisturbed. “This financing facility contributes to securing our cash position and extends our financial visibility through to the third quarter of 2021,” Stéphane Piat, CEO of Carmat, told BioWorld.

More than a third of the money raised through biopharma financings in 2020 was raised by companies developing either a therapeutic or a vaccine for COVID-19, yet completely wiping away those totals still leaves the year with $76.8 billion, a full 12% more than the next highest year.

PERTH, Australia – Immutep Ltd. completed a AU$29.6 million (US$21.72 million) placement that will allow the immunotherapy company to accelerate and broaden clinical development of its immuno-oncology and autoimmune programs.