Finance Watch: Mega-Rounds Around The World As VCs Spread The Wealth

China-Based Vector Supplier Raised $40m Series B+

Private Company Edition: After US-based Alumis and Sionna raised $259m and $182m, respectively, in series C rounds, Tubulis in Munich, Germany brought in €128m ($138.8m) in series B2 cash, while Rakuten – with offices in the US, Europe and Asia – closed a $119m series E round.

Finance Watch Private Company
• Source: Shutterstock

Recent biopharmaceutical venture capital financings reflect a worldly investment view, even at the $100m-plus mega-round level where the largest investments tend to be more frequent in the US. The six mega-rounds during the first half of March included a German antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developer and a cell therapy firm with operations in the US, Europe and Asia.

More from Financing

Finance Watch: As Stocks Tumble, Offerings Slow, Financial Alternatives Rise

 
• By 

Public Company Edition: Stock valuations are falling due to political, economic and regulatory uncertainty, resulting in fewer large public offerings, more alternative financings and cost cuts. Carisma, Tenaya, BioAtla, Arbutus, Nkarta, Alector and Adaptimmune announced layoffs.

AIRNA To Take RNA Editing Into The Clinic With $155m Series B Round

 
• By 

CEO Kris Elverum told Scrip about the start-up’s platform for editing RNA to correct genetic variants that cause harm and to reproduce healthy variants as a means of treating disease.

Isomorphic Adds To Growing AI War Chest With First External Funding Round

 

The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.

Finance Watch: European And Japanese Biotechs See VC Investor Interest In March

 
• By 

Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.

More from Business

Finance Watch: As Stocks Tumble, Offerings Slow, Financial Alternatives Rise

 
• By 

Public Company Edition: Stock valuations are falling due to political, economic and regulatory uncertainty, resulting in fewer large public offerings, more alternative financings and cost cuts. Carisma, Tenaya, BioAtla, Arbutus, Nkarta, Alector and Adaptimmune announced layoffs.

Amgen’s Rare Disease Portfolio Grows With Second Approved Uplizna Indication

 
• By 

The US FDA approved anti-CD19 antibody Uplizna, from Amgen’s $27.8bn purchase of Horizon in 2023, for IgG4-related disease – a larger market than its original NMOSD indication.

BeiGene Ends Anti-TIGIT Development In Lung Cancer

 
• By 

BeiGene’s Phase III ociperlimab joins the list of failed TIGIT inhibitors, as candidates from Roche, Merck & Co. and others have failed late-stage studies.