Humacyte, a US-headquartered developer of tissue-based medical technology that counts conglomerate Access Industries as an investor, completed a $75m series C round on Friday.
The round was led by a consortium including hedge fund sponsor PointState Capital and a range of undisclosed existing private investors and new investors.
Founded in 2004, Humacyte is working on regenerative medicine and vascular surgery technology and has products at the preclinical and clinical stage. It seeks to engineer its own extracellular tissues capable of forming shapes such as tubes or sheets to mimic human tissues.
The company plans to use the series C proceeds to fund an ongoing phase 3 clinical trial for a human acellular vessel product known as Humacyl, which is intended to help patients with end-stage renal disease undergo haemodialysis.
Humacyte has enrolled 350 patients for the trial and expects results later this year. It is also looking to conclude development of the bioprocessing system it will use to produce Humacyl, and is in the process of moving its laboratories and development teams to a new headquarters.
Carrie S. Cox, Humacyte’s chairman and CEO, said: “The enthusiastic response from new and existing investors is a reflection of the remarkable opportunity Humacyte has to revolutionise vascular medicine, through our groundbreaking biomedical engineering platform.
“Completing the final stage of clinical testing for our first product candidate later this year will be a significant achievement for our organisation and the overall regenerative medicine industry.”
The round took Humacyte’s overall debt and equity financing to more than $290m, in addition to up to $40m in the form of state contracts and grants.
Access Industries led the company’s $150m series B round in 2015, investing alongside financial services firm Bangkok Bank Public Company, property developer Reignwood Group, Pacific Eagle Asset Management and private investors Brady Dougan and Gavril Yushvaev.