US-based cancer treatment startup Vivace Therapeutics has raised $25m in a series B round featuring WuXi Healthcare Ventures, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical research firm WuXi PharmaTech.
Life sciences-focused venture capital firm Cenova Capital led the round, which included fellow VC firms Sequoia Capital China, Canaan Partners and Mission Bay Capital.
Vivace is developing oncology drugs focusing on inhibitors of the Hippo-Yap signalling pathway, which is associated with cell development and tumour suppression.
The company disclosed the series B funding, as well as a $15m series A round co-led by WuXi Healthcare Ventures and Canaan Partners in 2015, on Wednesday when it emerged from stealth.
Sofie Qiao, president and chief executive of Vivace, said: “Since our founding, we have focused on bringing together the best experts from China and the US to turn novel biology into first-in-class cancer therapeutics.”