US-based biotherapeutics company Rani Therapeutics raised an undisclosed sum on Wednesday in a round backed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and insurance provider Ping An that took its overall funding to $70m.
The corporates were joined by fellow new investor Virtus Inspire Ventures, a boutique venture capital firm with offices in China and Hong Kong. Ping An invested through its Ping An Ventures unit.
Pharmaceutical firms Novartis and KPC Pharmaceuticals; GV, the corporate venturing division of conglomerate Alphabet; healthcare crowdfunding platform VentureHealth; InCube Ventures, the life sciences venture fund of research facility InCube Labs; Buttonwood Funds, GF Ventures and unnamed additional investors are listed in Rani’s announcement, though it is unclear if they participated in the latest round.
Rani has also not clarified whether the money is a new round or an extension to its series C round, which achieved an initial close at $15.5m in May 2015. A regulatory filing at the time indicated Rani was seeking $52.2m for the final close.
The series C round was backed by Novartis, Alphabet and pharmaceutical packaging producer Stevanato, as well as InCube Ventures, Venture Health, Pinemount Investments, Crystal Horizon Investments, Pacific Venture Opportunity Fund and Buttonwood.
Rani has developed technology that turns injectable drugs such as long-acting insulin into pills. The company was spun out of InCube Labs in 2012 and will use the latest funding to drive recruitment, open additional facilities and scale up manufacturing.
GV previously led a 2013 series B round for Rani that was reportedly sized at $10m, and which also featured InCube Ventures and VentureHealth. Rani has not revealed details about its series A round.