Tag: Imara

16 March 2020 – Insightec Targets $150m Series F

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The Big Ones

Insightec is targeting up to $150m in a series F round valuing it at $1.3bn post-money, and has already received a $100m commitment from Koch Disruptive Technologies to lead the round. The company is developing a system that will use ultrasound to conduct brain surgery without making an incision, and KDT also led its last round, a $150m series E in 2017.

Investment firm LSP has raised $600m for its LSP 6 fund, which it claims is the largest life sciences venture fund in Europe’s history. Limited partners for the fund, which significantly surpassed its $450m target, include pharmaceutical firms Bristol Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical. Netherlands-based LSP now has a total of $1.1bn at its disposal across three funds.

WeDoctor, the operator of a medical appointment booking platform, is reportedly interviewing investment banks for roles in a Hong Kong initial public offering potentially sized at up to $1bn. The company’s investors include Tencent, Fosun, Shandong Tyan Home, NWS Holdings and AIA, the latter two having co-led its last round in mid-2018, when it raised $500m at a $5.5bn valuation. The IPO is reportedly expected to value it at up to $10bn.

And in crossover news, Passage Bio, a US-based genetic medicines developer commercialising University of Pennsylvania research, has increased its initial public offering to more than $248m after underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full. Underwriters purchased 1.8 million additional shares at the initial public offering price of $18, thereby injecting $32.4m into the company.

Deals

Kymera Therapeutics has closed a $102m series C round that will fund the progress of its immunotherapy pipeline, with cancer, autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases in its eyeline. Although none of them were named as participants in the round, Kymera has a raft of earlier investors from the pharmaceutical industry including MRL Ventures, Sanofi Ventures, Lilly Ventures, Amgen Ventures and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Elsewhere in China but in a completely different sector entirely, agricultural product distributor Wangjiahuan has closed an $87m series B round led by local services portal Meituan Dianping. The round also featured GLP’s $1.6bn Hidden Hill fund, which had supplied $58.5m in series A funding for Wangjiahuan roughly 18 months ago.

The hospitality sector looks like it’s facing an uncertain time right now, but hospitality management software provider Cloudbeds has raised $82m in funding from participants including human resources firm Recruit. The round was led by Viking Global Investors and it followed a reported $20m in earlier funding, with existing investors PeakSpan Capital and Cultivation Capital returning for the latest round.

Bristol-Meyers Squibb has contributed to a series B round for Silverback Therapeutics that has closed at $78.5m. The biologic drug developer had previously raised $47.5m in a Celgene-backed series A round, and the latest cash will be used to progress its lead antibody into clinical trials in cancer.

ShopBack, the operator of an online consumer loyalty and rewards platform, has boosted a funding round that already included Rakuten Capital to $75m. Temasek led the full round, which the company said increased its overall funding to $113m. EV Growth, whose co-founders include Yahoo Japan and Sinar Mas, also took part, ShopBack’s earlier backers including InTouch, SoftBank Ventures Asia and Singtel Innov8.

Health benefits provider Lyra Health has also raised $75m, in a series C round that included Providence Health and Services ‘ corporate VC unit, Providence Ventures, that lifted its overall funding to at least $158m. The round was led by venture capital firm IVP and Castlight Health is among the company’s earlier investors.

Elsewhere in life sciences, Harbour BioMed has closed a $75m series B-plus round that included SK Holdings, Legend Capital and Zhejiang University Future Capital. Harbour is working on antibody-based therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases but has now added a Covid-19 candidate to its pipeline. If it hits with that, expect its valuation to skyrocket. It traces its roots back to the Erasmus MC hospital.

Pager, the developer of a medical communication app, has secured $33m in equity and debt financing from investors including health insurance provider Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. The company’s earlier backers include Horizon Healthcare Services and Grupo Sura, and the latest funding will support geographical growth and product development.

Funds

Gas utility Enagás has also been busy fundraising and has put together a $170m fund in partnership with investment bank Alantra that will provide capital for renewable energy technology developers. The corporate is providing approximately $22.7m as a first commitment to Clima Energy Transition Fund and will also offer its expertise to portfolio companies.

Corporate venturing vehicle Strive rebranded from Gree Ventures last year and put down a target of more than $130m for its third fund – essentially double the amount it raised for the predecessor. In the end, Strive has closed the fund at just over $100m. It said the main priority was to reach $100m and that its central goal is to concentrate on its portfolio companies rather than fundraising.

Exits

Small molecule drug developer Zentalis is one of several life sciences companies to have filed for IPOs in recent days (see Ayala below), and it is targeting $100m in a Nasdaq offering. The decision comes after $162m in funding and will give Pharmaron the chance to exit. Let’s just hope the recent downturn in the public markets proves to be temporary rather than something longer lasting.

It maybe be hard going in the public markets right now but Imara has nevertheless gone public, raising $75.2m in an IPO that involved it floating at the bottom of its range, despite marginally increasing the number of shares in the offering. Imara is developing therapies to combat blood disorders and its shareholders include Lundbeckfond Invest and Pfizer Ventures, which hold a combined 15% of the company post-IPO.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

24 February 2020 – Imara to Raise Up To $86.3m in its IPO

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The Big Ones

Grab had raised $4.8bn for its series H round as of mid-2019 but did not confirm a close for the round. Now however, the on-demand ride provider is set to raise approximately $714m from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as part of a venture where the two will collaborate on a lending and insurance app, according to Nikkei. Amazon has been held up as a prime example of tech companies growing through diversification but it’s far from the only one.

SoftBank may be having difficulty luring external backers to its second Vision Fund but in the meantime it’s putting in its own money, $2.5bn since October according to Reuters sources, one of which said it is considering another $2.5bn while the fund carries on investing. Vision Fund is also reportedly lining up backers for a sub-$2bn hedge fund-like vehicle that will make public market investments.

Imara, a US-based developer of therapies for blood disorders, has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering that would enable pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Lundbeck to exit. Founded in 2016, Imara is working on drug treatments for haemoglobinopathies: disorders that affect the haemoglobin, the part of red blood cells that carry oxygen. It filed confidentially for the IPO in September 2019. It’s raised some $77m in series A and B funding, according to the filing – which is actually nearly $20m less than it had previously claimed, a discrepancy that’s rare for US companies (if a somewhat more common sight in China).

And the biggest deal on GUV was OMass Therapeutics, a UK-based drug design and development spinout of University of Oxford, which added £27.5m ($35.7m) of series A funding from investors including the university and its Oxford Sciences Innovation. Syncona led the extension with a $21.6m commitment – having also led the initial $17.9m close in 2018 with participation from OSI – to bring round’s total to $53.9m. OMass Therapeutics is working on therapies for immunological and genetic disorders.

Deals

Payment technology provider Toast has secured $400m in a series F round that bumped its valuation up from $2.7bn in April last year to $4.9bn. The round was co-led by TPG, Greenoaks Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Tiger Global, and it increased the company’s overall funding to more than $900m.

Endpoint protection platform developer SentinelOne has reportedly secured $200m at a $1.1bn valuation, with Insight Partners leading the round. Growth equity firm Insight also led SentinelOne’s last round, a $120m series E in June 2019 that included Samsung Venture Investment.

Yimi Dida is one of several trucking service providers contributing to China’s thriving logistics sector, and it has pulled in $143m in series D-plus funding from undisclosed investors, just over a year after it raised $266m in a Prologis-backed series D round.

Swiggy is continuing to battle Zomato for pole position in India’s online food delivery sector, and has received $113m in a series I round led by a reported $100m investment from Prosus Ventures, the unit formerly known as Naspers Ventures. You don’t see too many series I rounds, do you?

Unacademy is one of several companies operating in India’s thriving online education sector, and has grabbed $110m in a series E round that includes a relatively rare corporate venturing investment by Facebook.

Tier Mobility has extended its series B round to more than $100m, adding about $40m in debt and equity financing to the $60m it raised from investors including Axa Germany last October.

Elsewhere in Germany another transport-focused company has expanded its latest round, airborne taxi developer Volocopter increasing its series C to $94m with funding from investors including Deutsche Bahn’s logistics subsidiary, DB Schenke, as well as Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and MS&AD Ventures.

Spruce Biosciences has nabbed $88m in a series B round that included Novo, one of two named investors in its $20m series A three years ago. The company is currently enrolling patients for a phase 2 trial for a treatment intended to reduce heavy steroid doses necessary to combat a genetic hormonal disorder known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Intel Capital has led a $74m round for cybersecurity software provider ZeroFox, boosting its total funding to $162m. ZeroFox has also formed a collaboration agreement with an Intel ecosystem of software vendors known as Intel AI Builders covering artificial intelligence development.

Solar energy services provider Sunseap has raised $72m from energy utility Banpy as part of a series D round that is reportedly now sized at $146m. The round’s other participants include Temasek and ABC World Asia while Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Shell Technology Ventures are among its existing backers.

Funds

China International Capital Corporation’s CICC Capital unit has accumulated more than $229m for a biomedicine fund that follows a $1bn healthcare investment vehicle formed with AstraZeneca late last year. Corporate backers Hebei Port, Pharscin Pharma, Xiamen Fig, Fujian Sunner and Sichuan Daily Press subsidiary Xinwen Venture Capital are all among the LPs in the latest fund.

Biopharmaceutical company Walvax Technology is deploying roughly $21m for a biomedicine fund with a targeted close of about $87m that will be managed by Jinsheng Capital. Walvax is relatively new to corporate venturing but there seems to be a fair bit of activity in China right now concerning healthcare investment funds.

Exits

Mobile content discovery platform Digital Turbine has agreed to purchase US-based peer Mobile Posse in a deal reported by DC Inno to be about $66m in size, allowing telecommunications group SoftBank to exit.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0