US-based immunomodulatory drug developer Exicure has raised $20m through a private placement from investors including biopharmaceutical company AbbVie’s corporate venturing unit, AbbVie Ventures.
The round included brokerage firm Katalyst Securities, Rathmann Family Foundation and individual investors Bill Gates, Eric Lefkofsky, Craig Mundie, Patrick Ryan, David Walt and Mark Tompkins.
Founded in 2009 and originally known as AuraSense Therapeutics, Exicure is developing a class of drugs that will use nanotechnology to modify the body’s immune reactions and supress certain genes in order to combat diseases such as cancer and inflammatory disorders.
The financing will support a reverse merger with shell company Max-1 Acquisition Corporation as well as Exicure’s research and development activities. Max-1 has changed its name to Exicure and will continue the company’s work.
Exicure raised $5.4m in a series B round that included Abbott Biotech Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of healthcare conglomerate Abbott Laboratories, and private investors Patrick Ryan, David Walt, Eric Schmidt and Craig Mundie, which closed in 2012 according to a securities filing.
The company added an undisclosed amount of series B capital from Abbott Biotech Ventures, Patrick Ryan, David Walt, Boon Hwee Koh and Craig Mundie in 2013, the same year as AbbVie was spun out of Abbott.
The series B round was followed by an $18m series C backed by Rathmann Family Foundation and assorted private investors that closed in February 2015, and a $14.8m round in October the same year, according to a regulatory filing.
The US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is also among Exicure’s investors.