UK-based biotherapeutics company Bicycle Therapeutics secured £20m ($32m) on Tuesday in a series B round which included the corporate venturing units of pharmaceutical companies Astellas, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline.
Astellas Venture Management, SR One, which represents GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis Venture Fund invested alongside venture capital firms Atlas Ventures and SV Life Sciences.
Bicycle focuses on developing bicyclic peptides to treat tumour-specific targets, and will use the funds to advance therapeutic candidates for cancer treatment.
Andrew Sandham, chairman of Bicycle, said: “This second round financing enables us to advance our BDC candidates to clinical development in cancer indications. We also have the capacity to work collaboratively with pharma partners on other targets and indications in many diseases.”
The company raised $6m in series A funding in 2012 from SR One, Astellas Venture Management, Novarts Venture Fund, Atlas Ventures and SV Life Sciences.