Peter Van Vlasselaer has joined iPierian, a US-based stem cell medical development company backed by drugs company GlaxoSmithKline, as chief executive (CEO).
He replaced former CEO Michael Venuti after his brief tenure last month. Van Vlasselaer was the former CEO of Arresto Bioscience.
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 in September.
The round closed at $28m, having raised $22m in July when Google Ventures, the corporate venturing division of search engine company Google, led the initial closing.
IPierian was formed in 2009 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 saw Walker step down as chief executive to be a senior adviser with Venuti, president and chief scientific officer since February last year, taking the position.