Brisbane-based Kira Biotech Pty Ltd. is poised to enter the clinic after raising AU$20 million (US$13.72 million) in series A funding to develop therapies targeting immune system disorders. The round was led by Oneventures, one of Australia's leading venture capital firms with more than AU$330 million in funds under management.

It took Kandaswamy (Swamy) Vijayan, CEO of newly launched Plexium Inc., a few years to figure out where he needed to focus his creative energies. With an engineering background, he helped develop diagnostic tools. But he wanted to take the skill further. "For longest time, I thought diagnostics were the be all and end all," Vijayan told BioWorld MedTech.

Houston-based startup Braincheck Inc. scooped up $8 million in series A funding in a round led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners, along with True Wealth Ventures and Nueterra Capital. Braincheck launched its digital cognitive assessment tool in 2015 and a cognitive care planning solution in 2018, and now the company is looking to broaden its footprint with physician practices, hospitals and health systems. Proceeds from the financing will help to build the company's sales and marketing and clinical development teams in Houston, as well as production development staff in Austin.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Budding Taiwanese startup Elixiron Immunotherapeutics Inc. closed a $10.5 million series A1 financing to further expand its technology platform and drive its drug candidates toward clinical development.

With the ongoing push toward value-based care, providers are looking for ways to improve patient outcomes while also lowering health care costs. Los Angeles-based Dearhealth Inc.'s artificial intelligence-powered software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform aims to do meet that demand by helping physicians better manage patients with chronic conditions. Now Philips Health Technology Ventures and other large investors are putting their money behind the company, seeing an opportunity to generate real movement in advance population health.

Kronos Bio Inc. closed a $105 million series A preferred stock financing, shored up by a board composed of longtime pharma executives that includes the company CEO and president, Norbert Bischofberger, the former Gilead Sciences Inc. R&D executive vice president and chief science officer.

Trefoil Therapeutics Inc.'s $28 million from an oversubscribed series A financing will let the company finish a phase IIa proof-of-concept study as researchers edge toward attacking corneal endothelial dystrophy, including Fuchs dystrophy, a disease that leads to the deterioration of the endothelial layer on the back surface of the cornea.

DUBLIN – Early stage vaccine developer Osivax SAS raised €8 million (U$9 million) in series A funding to continue development of a clinical-stage universal influenza vaccine, based on what it believes is a highly immunogenic method of presenting the viral nucleoprotein to the immune system.

Xealth Inc., of Seattle, closed a series A financing with an additional $3 million from new investors Atrium Health, Cleveland clinic and Memorialcare Innovation Fund. The proceeds, which now total $14 million, will go toward further developing and deploying the company's digital prescribing and analytics platform. The company focuses on helping health systems organize and utilize digital health tools to optimize workflow, patient engagement and financial results.