Bluebird Bio, a US-based biotechnology company formerly known as Genetix Pharmaceuticals, has raised $30m in its series C round without having peer Genzyme as a reinvestor.
Venture capital firm Arch Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by peers Third Rock Ventures, Forbion Capital Partners (renamed after its independence from Dutch bank ABN Amro) and TVM Capital, and Easton Capital Investment Group.
Third Rock led last year’s $35m B round that also saw biotech company Genzyme’s corporate venturing division join the investment consortium as a new investor and it remains on the company’s share register.
James Geraghty, senior vice president at Genzyme, which France’s Sanofi-Aventis bought earlier this month, joined Bluebird’s board in March last year.
Genetix formed in 1993 and was originally funded by corporate investors before VCs restarted and recapitalised the company in 2004 with $12m, according to news provider VentureWire.