Akebia Therapeutics, a US-based pharmaceutical discovery and development company focused on blood disorders, has raised $22m in its series B round from a consortium co-led by Switzerland-based drugs company Novartis’ corporate venturing unit.
Novartis Venture Fund and Venture Investors, a venture capital (VC) firm investing in university technology transfer start-ups throughout the Midwest of America, co-led the B round. VC firms Triathlon Medical Ventures, Kearny Venture Partners, Athenian Venture Partners and Sigvion Capital also reinvested in Akebia and were joined by new investors, including AgeChem Venture Fund.
The $22m B round includes a $14m first closing with the rest of the money available by the end of the year.
Akebia drew down the $5m second tranche of it’s A round in June last year. Together with earlier rounds of financing, the total raised in the A round was $28m.