Emulate, a US-based biotechnology developer backed by clinical laboratory network operator LabCorp and hospital Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, raised $82m in a series E round yesterday.
Venture capital firm Northpond Ventures led the round, which was filled out by Perceptive Advisors, bringing the company’s total funding to almost $225m.
Emulate is developing in vitro on-a-chip models of human organs that replicate their function, in order to aid research in human response to drugs.
In addition to potentially accelerating the drug discovery process, the technology is set to benefit from anticipated changes to regulation around animal testing.
Proceeds from the round will be used to scale up research and development for new models related to tumours and immunology, among other areas. Emulate is also partnering two new distributors in the Asia Pacific region to expand its reach.
The company had secured $36m in a 2018 series C round led by Founders Fund with participation from ALS Investment Fund, SciFi VC, members of GlassWall Syndication Association and unnamed existing investors.
Emulate closed its series B round at $45m in 2016 with backing from LabCorp, Cedars-Sinai, NanoDimension, OS Fund, Atel Ventures, Leandro P Rizzuto Foundation’s ALS Finding a Cure initiative and Hansjörg Wyss, some having taken part in a $28m tranche several months earlier.
NanoDimension led the company’s $12m series A in 2014, when it was spun out of Harvard University’s Wyss Institute, investing alongside Cedars-Sinai and Hansjörg Wyss.
Jim Corbett, chief executive of Emulate, said: “This fundraise is a testament to the fact that Emulate organ-chips are allowing the exploration of human biology like never before. Over the last year, we have bolstered our leadership team, accelerated product development goals and seen healthy growth in demand for our products.
“Several leading indicators validate our belief that organ-on-a-chip technology will dramatically transform the entire drug discovery and development pipeline and ultimately eliminate unnecessary animal testing.”
