Vaccitech, a UK-based developer of vaccines for infectious diseases, closed a $168m series B round today backed by internet group Tencent and biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.
The round was led by M&G Investment Management, a division of impact investment manager M&G, and included Oxford Sciences Innovation, Future Planet Capital, the state-owned Monaco Constitutional Reserve Fund and unnamed new and existing investors.
Founded in 2016, Vaccitech was launched with the aim of developing a universal flu vaccine and has built a clinical pipeline which includes three assets aimed at chronic hepatitis B infection, persistent, high-risk human papillomavirus infection and prostate cancer respectively.
The series B capital included the conversion of $43m in convertible notes, and it will be used to advance each of the aforementioned vaccine candidates through phase 1/2 clinical trials.
The company’s most notable success to date is its co-invention of AZD1222, the vaccine for covid-19 developed in partnership with the university’s Jenner Institute and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Vaccitech collected $27.1m in a 2018 series A round co-led by Oxford Sciences Innovation with internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s GV unit and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China.
The round 2018 also featured Neptune Ventures and came after the company secured $14.5m in a 2016 seed round backed by Oxford Sciences Innovation, Invesco, Landsdowne and Woodford Investment Management.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.