The Inserm spinout secured a $7.8m series B extension and boosted its portfolio with the acquisition of AVCare, a Satt Ouest Valorisation-allied business.
Acticor Biotech, a France-based acute thrombotic disease therapeutics spinout of research institute Inserm, closed a €22.3m ($24.7m) series B round yesterday with a $7.8m extension led by regional investment unit Go Capital.
The extension also featured life sciences-focused venture fund Newton Biocapital, VC firm CapDecisif Management and investment platform Anaxago, adding to an initial $17m series B sum announced in October 2018.
Newton BioCapital led the initial tranche with participation from financial services firm Mirae Asset Capital, CapDecisif Management, CMS Medical Venture Investment, A&B and undisclosed additional investors.
Founded in 2013, Acticor Biotech is progressing clinical-stage drug candidates for acute thrombotic episodes, blood clots in the veins which cause complications with potentially life-threatening consequences.
The company’s lead asset, dubbed glenzocimab, is currently in phase 2 testing for acute ischemic stroke, where major occlusions of blood circulation to the brain severely impair the patient’s neurological function.
The series B cash will go toward extending Acticor’s phase 2 studies into the US as it prepares to file for investigational new drug status from healthcare regulator Food and Drug Administration.
Leila Nicolas, investment director of Go Capital, has joined the spinout’s board of directors.
Acticor Biotech also announced it had wholly acquired stroke biomarker diagnostics company AVCare, a spinout launched by regional tech transfer office Satt Ouest Valorisation and Go Capital.
Under the agreement, Acticor has sublicensed worldwide rights to develop and exploit AVCare’s biomarker technology. The company previously closed a $2.1m equity round in January 2018 led by Primer Capital and backed by Anaxago, CapDecisif and unnamed private investors, adding to $1.6m from CapDecisif in early 2017.
Acticor had reportedly raised $1.6m in a 2016 equity round backed by Anaxago-allied investors, research association Armesa and assorted angel investors.