Israel-based cancer metabolism startup Metabomed closed an $18m series A round on Monday that included founding partner MS Ventures, a subsidiary of Germany-based pharmaceutical company Merck Group.
The round was completed after pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and investment fund Arkin Holdings joined existing backers MS Ventures, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, which acts as pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim’s corporate venturing unit, Pontifax and Technion Research and Development Foundation.
Co-founded by MS Ventures’ Israel BioIncubator and three cancer metabolism and computational biology researchers, Metabomed is developing small molecule drugs to target cancer metabolism.
The technology is looking to discover targets that could form a synthetic lethal gene pair with metabolic genes that are inactivated in cancer cells, allowing it to develop more precise oncology drugs would combat cancer while sparing normal cells.
Simone Botti, head of MS Ventures Israel BioIncubator, is set to leave the firm to take up a position as Metabomed’s full-time chief executive. He said: “This series A extension is a major success for Metabomed.
“We believe that the vote of confidence from the existing syndicate and the addition of new top tier investors such as Pfizer and Arkin Holdings confirm the excitement around Metabomed and its technology, and I am very honoured to have been chosen to lead the company as its CEO.”