US-based biotechnology startup Ribometrix has secured $7.5m in a seed round that included Abbvie Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management, respective subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies Abbvie and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.
SV Health Investors and Hatteras Venture Partners co-led the round, which also featured Dementia Discovery Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic investment arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities. RNA drug developer Moderna invested $100,000, according to ExitEvent.
Founded in 2015, Ribometrix is developing therapies for a wide range of diseases, based on the theory that small molecules can target and alter the structures of ribonucleic acid (RNA), which plays a role in the regulation and expression of genes.
Kevin Weeks, co-founder and interim CEO of Ribometrix, said: “We are excited about the broad therapeutic space this technology opens up and the potential to make a substantive impact on the lives of patients across a range of diseases.”
Ribometrix is a spinout of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Weeks is a Kenan distinguished professor of chemistry.