Merck Global Health Innovation (GHI) Fund, a corporate venturing vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co, led a $40m series D round for US-based clinical research network operator TriNetX on Wednesday.
Diversified conglomerate Mitsui also took part in the round, as did Itochu Technology Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate Itochu, as well as venture capital fund F2 Capital Ventures and investment firms MPM Capital and Deerfield Management.
TriNetX provides cloud-based subscription services that are used by researchers to analyse clinical and claims data covering more than 300 million patients.
The company utilises natural language processing technology to collect unstructured data from clinicians’ patient notes which the researchers can use to track the progress of specific treatments for patients or to generate predictions for how a treatment might work.
In addition to funding the development of artificial intelligence and digital clinical trials technology, the series D proceeds will support TriNetX’s expansion in Europe, Asia and South America.
TriNetX has now raised a total of $102m in funding, it said. MPM Capital and F2 Capital Partners provided $13m of funding for the company in June 2015 according to PE Hub. Deerfield invested an undisclosed amount the same month as part of what it referred to as a series B round.