Ensoma Inc., a gene therapy startup working to drastically simplify the production and delivery of genomic medicines, announced itself Feb. 11 with a $70 million series A financing plus a strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which licensed vectors from the company for up to five rare disease targets in a deal that could deliver as much as $1.25 billion in potential payouts. Ensoma's co-founder and seed investor, 5AM Ventures, led the financing. Takeda took a $10 million equity stake as part of the round.

Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) secured $103 million in a series C fundraising round led by Cowen Healthcare Investments and other stars of the med-tech investment world. Participants included Northpond Ventures, Vensana Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Kern Capital, Sands Capital, PFM Health Sciences, Windham Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Innovatus Capital Partners, Catalio Capital Management, and others.

PARIS – Ecential Robotics SAS has just secured $120 million series C funding in equity and debt financing, to support the manufacturing and commercial development of its robotic platform for spinal surgery. This is the largest financial transaction undertaken by any med-tech company in France.

DUBLIN – Spybiotech Ltd. raised $32.5 million to move into clinical trials its first in-house vaccine program based on its Spycatcher/Spytag protein conjugation technology. The company is gearing up to start a phase I trial of a vaccine directed against cytomegalovirus (CMV) early next year.

Theator Ltd., the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered surgical intelligence platform, has raised $15.5 million in a series A financing led by Insight Partners. The funds will be used to scale commercial operations and partnerships with U.S. providers, grow the company’s R&D team and secure its footprint in the field of AI-driven surgical planning, intraoperative support, and review. New investor Blumberg Capital also participated in the round, along with all existing investors including Nfx, Stageone Ventures, Kdt Ventures and Iangels.

Ascendum Capital, a health care-focused investment platform founded in 2020, acquired the majority of the shares of a developer of a disposable robotic system designed to navigate tricky vascular passages for an undisclosed amount. Yehuda, Israel-based Endoways Ltd. developed the technology in the Medx Xelerator and will move to Dinova Medtech’s Israeli incubator until its catheter laboratory-focused robot launches for commercial use.

Chinese cancer and autoimmune specialist Innocare Pharma Ltd. raised HK$3.04 billion ($392 million) in private placements with two Hillhouse Capital subsidiaries and Vivo Opportunity Fund to advance its pipeline, especially its core asset, the BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib.