Muna Therapeutics, a Denmark-based developer of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, closed a $73m series A round today backed by pharmaceutical firms Novo and Sanofi.
Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia co-led the round, which included research institute VIB and its venture capital affiliate V-Bio Ventures, Polaris Partners and Polaris Innovation Fund, while Sanofi took part through strategic investment arm Sanofi Ventures.
Muna is focusing on neurodegenerative diseases for which no cure is currently available and for which palliative care is scarce.
The company has created a small molecule drug discovery engine that uses artificial intelligence-powered computational chemistry, cell-based screening and high-resolution target structural approaches.
Muna was formed through the merger of two companies including its namesake, Muna, which was spun out of Aarhus University in 2020 with backing from Novo subsidiary Novo Seeds before attracting a minority investment from contract research and discovery company Axxam.
The other business, K5 Therapeutics, was also founded in 2020, based on research at VIB and KU Leuven, with funding from VIB and Droia Ventures.
The combined company will continue to operate its bases in Copenhagen and Leuven, and will be led by chief executive Rita Balice-Gordon and chief operating officer Anders Hinsby, both entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) at Novo Seeds.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
