Money on the Move: Industry Invests in AI, Precision Medicine, Ocular Diseases

2022-06-15

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Summer is heating up, and so is venture capital funding. This week’s money on the move focuses on some hot financing for precision medicine with AI-enabled pathology, drug formulation, delivery innovations and ocular diseases. Elektrofi Boston-based biotech Elektrofi closed a Series B round of financing worth $40 million. The funding was led by Marshall Wace and BVF Partners with support from Janus Henderson and Logos Capital. Elektrofi, which focuses on drug formulation and delivery innovations, has big plans for the money. The company is looking to double its headcount in the next 12-18 months and establish a centralized GMP manufacturing line to help its upcoming clinical trials. The company will also accelerate the growth of its licensed programs with leading pharma and biotech as well as hone its platform that develops small-volume injections for monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and other large molecule drugs. “This financing sets the stage for advancement of multiple lead programs to human trials, clinical validation of Elektrofi’s high concentration technology, and pipeline expansion in response to significant inbound platform interest,” said Chase Coffman, CEO and co-founder, of Elektrofi. ImCheck Therapeutics In the last outstanding tranche of Series B converted into Series C shares, France-based ImCheck Therapeutics gathered a total of €96 million (USD 103 million). The round of financing included support from existing investors the Growth Opportunity Fund of founding investor Kurma Partners, Eurazeo, Gimv, EQT Life Sciences (previously LSP), Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Pfizer Ventures, Bpifrance, Wellington Partners, Agent Capital, Pureos Bioventures and Alexandria Venture Investments. New investors Invus and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Therapy Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Therapy Acceleration Program also supported the financing. The funding will accelerate the further advance ImCheck’s goals in developing additional antibody candidates in immuno-oncology, auto-immune and infectious diseases, starting with ICT01. ICT01 is ImCheck’s lead candidate, and the cash will support Phase IIa clinical trial expansions of the drug in solid tumors and hematologic cancers. Gimv European investment company Gimv created its fifth investment platform, which will have a focus on venture capital investments in innovative life sciences companies. Previously, Gimv had launched a healthcare investment platform, but it had grown so quickly and had so much success—especially with companies like Ablynx, where Gimv was a founding investor and Covagen, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson—that Gimv decided to create a separate life sciences platform. Gimv hopes to double its portfolio to 20 companies and have the cash to invest €10-15 million per company. Focuses on the investment platform include drug development, medical technology, digital health, life science tools and agro-biotechnology. Proscia Digital and computational pathology solutions company Proscia raised $37 million in a Series C round of financing, bringing the company’s total funding to $72 million. The round’s existing investors Scale Venture Partners, Hitachi Ventures, ROBO Global, Emerald Development Managers and Razor's Edge Ventures were joined by Highline Capital Management, Triangle Peak Partners, and Alpha Intelligence Capital. With the funding, Proscia will focus on precision medicine with AI-enabled pathology. The company also hopes the money will help to expand its sales, marketing and support teams, as well as grow more distribution partnerships following its recent OEM agreement with Siemens Healthineers. "Digital pathology is a critical catalyst in the acceleration of precision medicine, creating a wealth of new data that is driving novel therapies and optimizing diagnosis so that each patient receives the most individualized treatment. We are excited to be a part of Proscia's journey as it expands its leadership position with its AI-enabled platform," Jacob Doft, CEO of Highline Capital Management, said. Nacuity Pharmaceuticals Texas-based Nacuity Pharmaceuticals scooped up $16.5 million in a Series B financing. The financing was led by Foundation Fighting Blindness Blindness and its venture arm RD Fund, along with some existing investors. Nacuity is a clinical-stage biopharma company developing treatments for ocular diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as cataracts and retinitis pigmentosa. The funding will help the company advance clinical trials for NPI-001, a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa associated with Usher syndrome, and NPI-002, an antioxidant molecule designed to slow cataract progression that is delivered via an intravitreal implant.