The identification of new targets in diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – conditions which continue to have significant unmet needs – has taken a small step forward as one company, Violet Therapeutics Inc., plans to put $10.6 million in seed funding toward building out a pipeline based on technologies that elucidate the way cells interact amongst one another.
Mediwhale Inc. closed a $9 million series A round that will see the company take its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered retina scans to prevent heart and kidney diseases to the U.S. market.
Beijing Surgerii Technology Co. Ltd. completed a series C3 round to support the development of its robotic system for single-port laparoscopic surgery.
Compared to recent fundraising rounds in the med-tech space, Noah Medical Inc. was veritably deluged with cash in its series B. Softbank Vision Fund and Prosperity7 Ventures led the round, which rained down $150 million on the medical robotics company. Other participants included Hillhouse, Sequoia China, Shangbay Capital, Uphonest Capital, Sunmed Capital, Lyfe Capital, 1955 Capital, AME Cloud Ventures and undisclosed strategic investors.
The €13.8 million (US$15.25 million) Kiro SAS recently raised in its series A financing led by Sofinnova Partners will enable the company to further develop its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, which standardizes and analyzes laboratory test results, making them more relevant to doctors and easier for patients to understand. The funding will also allow the company to prepare the groundwork to enter the U.S. market where, Alexandre Guenoun, CEO at Kiro, told BioWorld, there is a huge “opportunity” for the AI platform following changes to regulations which require laboratories to communicate test results directly to patients.
Neuromod Devices Ltd. will use the €30 million (US$ 32.78 million) financing it recently raised to launch its tinnitus treatment device, Lenire, in the U.S. where there are an estimated 50 million Americans suffering from tinnitus, CEO, Ross O’Neill, told BioWorld. “To get this financing closed is very exciting as we go into the U.S. market which is the biggest hearing market in the world,” he added.
Liquid biopsy company Epic Sciences Inc. reeled in $24 million in a series G financing co-led by Deerfield Management and Arsenal Capital Partners. The funds will be used to build the commercial infrastructure needed successfully market DefineMBC, its comprehensive blood-based test for patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Andera Partners led a $48.5 million series A financing round for Bioventrix Inc. which will allow the medical device company to complete its premarket approval (PMA) submission for the Revivent TC system. Andera joined Cormorant Asset Management and Squarepoint Capital as new investors in Bioventrix. Existing investors, Taglich Brothers Inc. and Richmond Brothers, also contributed to the fundraising.
Function Oncology Inc. emerged from stealth on April 12 with the announcement of a $28 million series A financing that will continue support development of its CRISPR-enabled platform to profile cancer in patient-specific detail. The platform goes beyond next-generation sequencing to measure gene function, potentially allowing identification of new therapeutic targets and better matching of available therapies to vulnerabilities in an individual’s tumors.
Heartflow Inc. is feeling the love of investors again as it closed a $215 series F financing round led by Bain Capital Life Sciences. The round marks a return to the equity markets after several years away; the company closed its series E in 2017 and a $65 million venture round in 2019. In early 2022, Heartflow scrapped its plans to go public through a special purchase acquisition company (SPAC) merger with Longview Acquisition, citing what both companies called “current unfavorable market conditions.” Longview had offered $690 million in July 2021, in a deal that implied an enterprise value of $2.4 billion at the time.
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