US-based medical diagnostics technology developer Stemonix has raised $14.4m in a series B round led by venture capital firm Brightstone Venture Capital that also featured medical research firm Mayo Clinic.
The round included VC firms Alumni Ventures Group and Keshif Ventures and VC Fund Crescent Ridge Partners as well as a consortium of individuals that invested through private investment group Seed San Diego.
Founded in 2014, Stemonix develops and distributes assay plates that enable pharmaceutical research and development organisations to conduct human drug screenings without the drug candidates entering a human body.
In addition to expanding its commercial operations, Stemonix will also use the new funding to develop new products and services.
Ping Yeh, co-founder and chief executive of Stemonix, said: “We are leading the industry of human MicroOrgan screening products with our focus on consistent, physiologically-relevant, high throughput stem cell-based technologies.
“With the series B funding, Stemonix is poised to open new markets to accelerate drug discovery and development for our customers.”
The company had previously received $6m from undisclosed investors in a 2017 series A round that took its overall funding to more than $11m, Yah had told local daily the Star Tribune. It has identified Crescent Ridge Partners and Seed San Diego as its initial investors.