GV, the corporate venturing unit formerly known as Google Ventures, contributed to a $27m funding round for US-based neurological disorder drug developer Rodin Therapeutics that closed on Monday.
Venture capital firms Atlas Venture, Hatteras Venture Partners and Remeditex Ventures also participated in the round, along with Third Point Ventures, the VC arm of hedge fund Third Point Management.
Rodin is developing small-molecule therapeutics that will treat neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease by enhancing a patient’s synaptic resilience.
GV venture partner Ben Robbins said: “Rodin’s approach to boosting synaptic resilience has significant potential to benefit patients living with neurodegenerative diseases, as well as neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Robbins has taken a board observer role in connection with GV’s investment, while John W. Creecy of Remeditex, Jason Hong of Third Point and Clay Thorp of Hatteras have joined the company’s board of directors.
The round took Rodin’s overall funding to more than $57m since it received an undisclosed amount of seed capital from Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson, and Atlas Venture in 2013.
Both seed investors returned for Rodin’s $12.9m series A round the following year, before the company added $17.3m from Atlas Venture and biotech company Biogen in January 2016.