MedCitizens, Startups

MedCity News StartUPDATES

Funding updates, job changes, and other news from the MedCitizens community.

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Synthego, based in Redwood City, California, said Tuesday that it had closed a $110 million Series C funding round, led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Existing investors 8VC and Menlo Ventures also participated in the round. Founders Fund also led the company’s Series A funding round, COO Ted Tisch noted in a phone interview. That round, closed in 2013, totaled $8.3 million.

San Diego-based Qpex Biopharma announced its launch Monday with a $33 million Series A financing, led by Menlo Park, California-based New Enterprise Associates and one of its partners, Carol Gallagher. Gallagher is former CEO of Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, which developed Zydelig (idelalisib), a phosphoinositide 3-kinase, or PI3K inhibitor.

Future Family, a San Francisco-based startup focused on making fertility more accessible, has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Aspect Ventures. In addition to the Series A financing news, Future Family announced Aspect Ventures partner Lauren Kolodny will join its board of directors.

Insurance startup Devoted Health has raised a massive $300 million Series B financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz as it opens up its Medicare Advantage product for enrollment in Florida. The company was founded in 2017 by brothers Ed and Todd Park, who serve as the company’s CEO and executive chairman, respectively. The duo had previously started healthcare IT company Athenahealth and Todd Park was also a co-founder of price transparency company Castlight Health and served as the U.S. chief technology officer under President Obama.

San Francisco based Stride Health, an insurance brokerage startup focused on connecting freelance and independent workers to benefits, has partnered with independent caregiver marketplace CareLinx to provide better access to health and benefit plans. Stride was founded in 2013 and has raised more than $38 million from investors. “Through our partnership with Stride, every one of our caregivers will be able to easily find the best health insurance plan for them and their families, and see if they qualify for lower premiums,” said CareLinx CEO Sherwin Sheik.

Taiho Venture’s – part of Tokyo-based Taiho Pharmaceutical – investment pool is increased by $250 million, to $300 million. The fund will primarily focus on drugs for treating cancers. “Taiho Pharmaceutical aims to be a global oncology company,” Taiho Pharmaceutical President Masayuki Kobayashi said in a statement. “We conduct innovative R&D into new drugs originating in Japan based out of our drug discovery research facilities in Tsukuba, Ibaraki.”

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A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma

A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.

Tuition.io, a startup based in Santa Monica, California, enables companies to offer a benefit that can help workers manage and repay their student loans. The company has raised more than $15 million in funding from investors including Wildcat Venture Partners and the venture arm of insurance company MassMutual.

Deep Lens, a digital pathology startup, has emerged from stealth mode with $3.2 million in seed financing. In a recent phone interview, Deep Lens co-founder and CEO Dave Billiter said the money will go toward sales and marketing efforts as well as the expansion of its flagship technology, VIPER (Virtual Imaging for Pathology Education and Research), a cloud-based digital pathology platform.

New York-based Gotham Therapeutics launched Wednesday with a $54 million Series A financing round. Gotham Therapeutics is developing a class of RNA-modifying proteins to potentially treat cancers, autoimmune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. “Our goal is to become the leader in drugging key proteins that modulate mRNA functionality, thereby impacting disease onset and progression,” said CEO Lee Babiss in a statement.

Bethesda, Maryland-based RightEye has received a 510(k) clearance for its EyeQ eye-tracking platform using competitor SyncThink’s technology as a predicate device. “The RightEye system has been an asset to my practice for its ability to help identify conditions that may have otherwise gone unnoticed,” said Adam Clarin, a practicing optometrist at Clarin Eye Care, in a statement. “The FDA clearance adds an extra layer of confidence for my patients and my practice.

Health2047 has spun out a new company which is focused on reversing prediabetes. With $2 million in seed funding, First Mile Care is utilizing a coaching and support model. “Our vision … is that we can prevent chronic disease by enabling people to help themselves,” said CEO Karl Ronn. The startup has begun developing a platform that enables community-based peer-to-peer connection so individuals with prediabetes can receive support.

Two months after closing a Series C round, Orchard Therapeutics files for $172.5M IPO. The move comes two months after it closed a $150 million Series C and five months after it acquired a gene therapy portfolio from GSK. The London-based biotech would trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ORTX.

Startups within digital health have raised an eye-popping $6.8 billion in 2018, compared to $5.7 billion in 2017. In 2018 alone, ten companies have inked mega-deals of more than $100 million including chronic disease management company Livongo, workforce healthcare management company Collective Health, Chicago-based data company Tempus and mobile ultrasound company Butterfly Network.

Digital startup Maven, focused on women’s and family health, secures $27 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, Oak HC/FT, 14W, Female Founders Fund and Spring Mountain Capital. The company offers a virtual clinic that allows women to video chat or message with a variety of practitioners, including OB/GYNs, mental health specialists, and nutritionists. Additionally, Maven has a family benefits platform for employers and health plans. The new $27 million will go toward enhancing that family benefits platform.

VelosBio recently raised $58 million in a Series A round for antibody-drug conjugate development. Its CEO is Dave Johnson, who was previously CEO of Acerta Pharma, which British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca bought in 2015. VelosBio investors include Arix Biosciences, Sofinnova Ventures, Pappas Ventures, and Decheng Capital. “Our strategy in oncology is to support a diverse portfolio of companies using novel and differentiated approaches to treat cancer and improve patient outcomes,” said Joe Anderson, Arix’s chief investment officer, in a statement.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Alydia Health has raised a $10 million Series B financing round to conduct a clinical trail for its novel vacuum-based solution to postpartum hemorrhage. Alydia argues that its product is superior to other methods because of the fast deployment of the device and the potential of the intrauterine balloon tamponade to hide bleeding. “With clinicians, I put the device in their hands and their brain clicks and they relax, it makes sense to them,” Alydia CEO Anne Morrissey said in a phone interview.

KSQ Therapeutics has raised $80 million in a Series C financing round for cell therapy developed with a CRISPR-based platform. The round included Cowen Healthcare Investments, Invus, Lilly Asia Ventures and Baillie Gifford as new investors. The company plans to use the funding to advance its first program into the clinic within the next year and a half, a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL therapy.

Butterfly Network, a portable ultrasound company, raised a $250 million Series D financing round led by financial services Fidelity at a $1.25 billion valuation. Butterfly Network’s technology, which it calls an “ultrasound-on-chip” is designed to perform diagnostic imaging and measurement of blood vessels and examine the cardiac, abdominal, urological, fetal, gynecological, and musculoskeletal systems. With the Series D round, Butterfly Network’s total funding has increased to $350 million.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Akrevia Therapeutics has closed $30 million in Series A financing, led by F-Prime Capital Partners and Atlas Ventures, launching with two industry veterans at the helm. Nessan Bermingham, founder and former CEO of gene therapy company Intellia Therapeutics, will serve as executive chairman, while former ARIAD Pharmaceuticals president of research and development Tim Clackson will head Akrevia’s research and development while serving as president.

In the course of the last week, both Amazon and Google, two titans of the technology industry and major business rivals have announced that they’re investing in a small Los Angeles-based digital health startup called Aiva Health. The company is developing a voice-enabled operating system that is tailored for a hospital or a healthcare setting.

Proscia, a startup leveraging technology to help diagnose cancer, has raised an $8.3 million Series A round led by Flybridge Capital Partners. The money will go toward expanding Proscia’s digital pathology software and developing new AI-enabled workflows that target certain cancers. “Digital pathology and artificial intelligence are unlocking new possibilities for pathologists in the fight against cancer,” Proscia co-founder and CEO David West said in a statement.

Watertown, Massachusetts-based Lyra Therapeutics said Wednesday that it had raised $29.5 million in a Series B round that it will use to fund a Phase II clinical trial of its lead candidate, LYR-210, in chronic rhinosinusitis. In addition to the upcoming Phase II study, the funding will allow the company to apply its transmucosal drug-delivery implant system to other ear, nose and throat diseases.

StartUp Health has closed their second fund, a $31 million investment vehicle backed by major global companies including Swiss pharma giant Novartis, Irvine, Calif.-based medical device maker Masimo and the venture arm of Chinese insurance firm Ping An. “We are proud to partner with StartUp Health and support its global mission to solve 10 of the world’s biggest health challenges,” Fabrice Chouraqui, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals USA said in a statement.

Israeli diagnostic software company DiA Imaging Analysis recently announced that its year-old partnership with GE Healthcare has produced fruit. The companies have made DiA’s AI-powered LVivo EF cardiac decision-support software available for GE’s Vscan Extend handheld ultrasound tool. They believe the combination will make it easier for physicians to more accurately measure cardiac ejection fraction.

New York-based startup Ro, previously known as Roman, has raised $88 million in series A funding as it branches out from its initial focus on erectile dysfunction and launches a smoking cessation vertical called Zero. According to a blog post from CEO Zachariah Reitano, the company’s expanded to smoking after a number of patients looked to understand and prevent the root cause of their ED, which in many cases was tobacco use.

For the past two years, CareMore Health has worked with rideshare company Lyft to provide non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) to its patients. After an initial two-month pilot in 2016 with Lyft garnered promising results, CareMore’s partnership grew throughout 2017 to 7,000 rides per month, accounting for 91 percent of the company’s curb-to-curb NEMT rides.

uBiome, a San Francisco-based firm developing therapies around the microbiome, has raised a new round of venture capital funding and appointed a prominent industry executive to its board of directors. It has raised $83 million in a Series C financing round, led by OS Fund and with participation from 8VC, Y Combinator, Dentsu Ventures and others. In addition, it recently appointed Joe Jimenez, former CEO of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, to its board.

Town Hall Ventures, an investment firm that backs companies supporting vulnerable populations covered by Medicare and Medicaid, has closed its first fund at a total of $115 million. The firm announced new investments in three startups: Landmark HealthBright Health, and Strive Health. Town Hall Ventures has also recently added Ann Hickey to its team as Vice President.

Galera Therapeutics, a startup developing a drug for severe oral mucositis in patients receiving treatment for head and neck cancer, has raised $150 million in a joint, oversubscribed Series C funding round and royalty purchase agreement. CEO Mel Sorensen stated that the company also plans to study the drug in radiation-induced esophagitis and an undisclosed cancer-related indication.

OODA Health, a San Francisco startup looking to reshape healthcare’s existing billing and claims payment system has launched with a $40.5 million Series A financing round and provider and payer partners including Dignity Health, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and Blue Shield of California. By pulling in clinical data from electronic health records, OODA is trying to help health plans pay for care in real-time instead of with the lag and administrative burden that exists in the current system.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Morphic Therapeutic said that it raised $80 million to finance IND-enabling studies and clinical trials of its oral integrin therapeutics starting next year. “With compelling preclinical data across a number of programs, we are accelerating our advance into the clinic,” Morphic CEO Praveen Tipirneni said in a statement.

Immune-Onc, a company with several oncology immunotherapy programs in preclinical development has closed a $33 million Series B financing round raised mostly from China-focused investors. The company plans to use the funding to develop its pipeline programs. The firm also appointed Genentech executive An Song as Senior Vice President of Development Sciences and Achaogen executive Adrian Jubb as Chief Medical Officer.

Boston-based digital health company InfoBionic has raised $50 million to support commercialization of its MoMe Kardia remote monitoring platform. “We are pleased by the completion of the company’s latest financing round which was based upon the strong market traction of our proprietary MoMe Kardia system,” CEO Stuart Long said in a statement. Earlier this year the company signed an exclusive distribution deal with Biotronik to increase access to the device.

New York City startup Wellth, which leverages behavioral economics to help patients adhere to their care plans, has secured $5.1 million in funding. Investors included Boehringer Ingelheim’s Venture Fund, AXA Venture Partners, New York Life Insurance Company and NFP’s Venture Fund. Wellth will use the financing to continue to expand its team and meet the increasing market demand.

CAR-T company Allogene Therapeutics has filed for a $100 million IPO. The South San Francisco, California-based company said Friday that it had filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering on the NASDAQ. The lead product in Allogene’s pipeline is UCART19, which it in-licensed from Pfizer. Pfizer had licensed the allogeneic CAR-T from French drugmakers Cellectis and Servier, the latter of which still holds ex-US rights to it.

SnapMD, a telehealth organization in Glendale, California, has secured $7.1 million in a Series B round. The company plans to use the funding to boost its telemedicine platform and improve its sales and marketing efforts. “We are very fortunate with our investors that they have understood our need to develop technology before the market was ready for all of it,” said CEO Dave Skibinski.

San Francisco-based System1 Biosciences has raised $25 million in a Series A financing round, co-led by Pfizer Ventures and CRV, for its psychiatric and neurological drug-discovery platform. The company plans to use the money to fund its drug-discovery programs, which are focused on epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia.

Redwood City, California-based Atreca, a drugmaker developing cancer therapeutics based on patient immune responses, has raised its latest round of venture capital funding, $125 million in a Series C round, led by an undisclosed large, healthcare-focused fund based in the US that is also an existing investor. The company describes its approach as inverting the traditional drug-discovery paradigm.

Health insurance giant Cigna has launched a $250 million venture fund to invest in early-stage companies.

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