Two more strategic investors have joined the extended series B round for US-based drug development company iPierian.
GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venturing division SR One and Biogen Idec’s $200m New Ventures unit alongside undisclosed other investors added $6m to iPierian’s series B round.
The round has now closed at $28m, having raised $22m in July when Google Ventures, the corporate venturing division of search engine company Google, led the initial closing.
Rajeev Dadoo, a partner at SR One, will be a board observer at iPierian, which uses stem cells to try and find cures for neurodegenerative diseases. He said: "IPierian has industrialized the new science of iPSC technology for drug discovery, and their platform has the potential to transform pharmaceutical discovery and development across a broad range of therapeutic areas."
Biogen and SR One joined the existing investor syndicate of venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Highland Capital Partners, MPM Capital, FinTech Global Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and strategic investors Google Ventures and ATEL Ventures, the venture capital division of US leasing finance company ATEL Capital Group, which all previously participated in this round.
IPierian was formed last year out of a merger of Boston-based Pierian, which was started by three scientists from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and iZumi Bio, run by Corey Goodman (previously president of Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation unit) and John Walker, a director of stem cell pioneer Geron.
The deal brought $11.5m of venture capital into the merged company as MPM Capital invested $10m while FinTech Global Capital provided $1.5m. Two months earlier, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Highland Capital Partners had provided $20m to iZumi, which also rolled across to the merged company.
The B round of funding has seen Walker step down as chief executive to be a senior adviser with Michael Venuti, president and chief scientific officer since February, taking the position.