Finland-headquartered cancer drug developer Rappta Therapeutics received €9m ($10.4m) on Tuesday in a series A round co-led by pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Novo through subsidiaries Novartis Venture Fund (NVF) and Novo Seeds.
Venture capital firm Advent Life Sciences and an undisclosed family office also participated in the round, while the state-backed Business Finland has also invested in Rappta.
Rappta is developing therapeutics designed to activate an enzyme known as protein phosphatase 2A in order to suppress tumours.
NVF principal Beat Steffen and Jeroen Bakker, a principal at Novo Seeds, is joining Raj Parekh from Advent Life Sciences and co-founders Mikko Mannerkoski and Goutham Narla, chief of genetic medicine at the University of Michigan, on Rappta’s board of directors.
