Iris Dorbian
WuXi NextCODE, the global platform for genomic data, has closed $240 million in Series B financing. The investors included Sequoia China, Temasek, Yunfeng Capital, 3W Partners, Temasek, Yunfeng, 3W and Amgen Ventures. China Renaissance Group provided financial advice to WuXi NextCODE on the transaction.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Data Genomix, a marketing technology startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding. Edward Crawford and Zanite Ventures led the round.
St. Louis, Missouri-based NewLeaf Symbiotics, an agricultural biotech company, has raised $30 million in Series C funding. The investors included S2G Ventures, Monsanto Growth Ventures, Otter Capital, The Yard Ventures, Lewis & Clark Ventures, Rockport Capital, Pangaea Ventures and Open Prairie Ventures.
San Francisco Bay area-based Gritstone Oncology, a cancer immunotherapy company, has closed $92.7 million in financing. Lilly Asia Ventures led the round with participation from other investors that included GV, Trinitas Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Versant Ventures, The Column Group, Clarus Funds and Frazier Healthcare Partners. Cowen served as financial adviser to Gritstone on the transaction.
Vekia, a French provider of machine learning in the supply chain market, has secured 12 million euros in funding. Serena Capital and Bpifrance led the round.
VideoAmp, an integrated TV operating system for advertising, has named Tom Schmitt as chief financial officer. Schmitt is the former chief operating officer and chief financial officer at FreeWheel.TV. VideoAmp is backed by Mediaocean, RTL Group, GoAhead Ventures, StartUp Capital Ventures, Anthem Venture Partners, Wavemaker Partners and Simon Equity Partners.
Excision BioTherapeutics, a developer of advanced gene editing therapeutics that treat life-threatening disease caused by neurotropic viruses, has closed $10 million in seed funding. ARTIS Ventures led the round.
Merck has agreed to acquire Germany-based Rigontec, which focuses on RIG-I targeting RNA therapeutics. According to terms of the deal, Merck will make an upfront cash payment of 115 million euros to Rigontec’s shareholders. Also, based on the fulfillment of certain milestones, Merck may make additional contingent payments of up to 349 million euros. Rigontec is backed by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Forbion Capital Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds, MP Healthcare Venture Management, NRW.BANK, Sunstone Capital and Wellington Partners Life Sciences.
Event Pop, a Thai event management platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding. InVent led the round with participation from Beacon Venture Capital.
Stockholm-based Fast Travel Games, a virtual reality games studio, has raised $2.1 million in Series A funding. Industrifonden led the round with participation from Creades, Inbox Capital and return backer Sunstone Capital.