Xeltis BV raised $15 million in series D2 funding to develop its restorative vascular access device for patients with chronic kidney disease who are on hemodialysis. The investment in this technology, called the Axess graft, came from Hong Kong-based China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd. (Grand Pharma). The deal focuses mainly on commercializing Axess, but also involves other new products in the field of hemodialysis developed as part of the Xeltis technology platform. The commitment from Grand Pharma includes equity investment and product licensing, representing Xeltis’ first commercial deal and its first funding from an Asian concern.
Carmot Therapeutics Inc. has raised $160 million in series D financing to support a trio of early to midstage clinical programs focused on treating diabetes and obesity with peptide-based small-molecule incretin receptor modulators.
AI-enabled drug discovery company Insilico Medicine Ltd. has raised $60 million in a series D round to support expansion of its pipeline. The Hong Kong and New York-based company will use the proceeds to support clinical testing of its lead asset, a potential treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), as well as the advancement of its Pharma.AI platform.
Biofourmis Inc. secured $300 million in a series D financing led by General Atlantic, with participation by CVS Health and existing investors. The round lifted the Boston-based company’s valuation to more than $1 billion and unicorn status, according to executives. Biofourmis will use the funds to drive next-stage growth in its virtual care offerings and digital therapeutics (DTx).
Valuations in the med-tech space lately call into question the old medical adage: “If you hear hoofbeats, think horses.” These days, you would be wise to consider unicorns in the differential diagnosis. Two new companies achieved the formerly rare status just this week. Viz.ai Inc.’s closing today of a $100 million series D financing propelled it into the stratosphere with a $1.2 billion valuation, joining Bostongene LLC which completed its own $150 million round Wednesday.
Ceros Capital Markets completed a $15 million series D funding round for Pristine Surgical LLC, its latest major investment in the medical device space. The funds will be used to advance the commercialization of Pristine’s single-use visualization platform for surgical and diagnostic endoscopic procedures.
It’s no mystery why Scipher Medicine Corp. successfully raised $110 million in a series D financing round to further develop the company’s precision medicine platform. The company aims to address one of most modern medicine’s most challenging enigmas: how to eliminate the cost and adverse effects associated with the prescription of expensive medications that provide life-changing outcomes for some and no benefit for others. The new funds boost Scipher’s total funding to $227 million, of which $192 million has come into the Waltham, Mass.-based company’s coffers in the last 12 months.
Kallyope Inc., a company leveraging connections between the gut and brain to develop new medicines for diabetes, obesity and other diseases, has raised $236 million in series D financing to support its work. Readouts of early clinical data for its most advanced programs, phase I small molecules for metabolic disease and gut barrier conditions, will start to arrive later this year, company CEO and President Jay Galeota told BioWorld.
Sword Health Technologies Inc. slipped another $189 million into its coffers with an oversubscribed $163 million series D fundraising round that spilled into an additional $26 million secondary transaction. The enthusiasm for the round points to the keen interest in digital delivery of musculoskeletal (MSK) physical therapy, which has driven Sword and competitor Hinge Health Inc. both into rarified unicorn territory with valuations of $2 billion and $6.2 billion, respectively.