Daily deal net: September 9, 2019

Veralox Therapeutics, a US-based therapeutics developer exploiting technology from multiple academic research institutions, has raised $5.4m from seed investors including University of Maryland System’s Maryland Momentum Fund and University of Vermont’s Health Network. JRDF T1D Fund, managed by diabetes-focused charity JRDF, led the round with commitments from Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) Innovation Fund and VTC Seed Fund – two VC partnerships between Virginia Tech and healthcare provider Carilion Clinic – as well as drug maker Sanofi’s Ventures unit and state-owned Maryland Technology Development Corporation. Founded in 2017, Veralox is working on inhibitors of the 12-lipoxygenase enzyme for indications including type 1 diabetes and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis. Its lead candidate, VLX-1005, was developed in partnership with University of California, Santa Cruz, Thomas Jefferson University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and the US government’s National Institutes of Health. The seed capital will help prepare clinical studies and identify additional target indications. Daniel Mansuri, associate director of investment at Sanofi Ventures, and Katie Ellias, managing director of JDRF T1D Fund, have joined the board of directors.
Continuus Pharmaceuticals, a US-based pharmaceuticals manufacturing process developer spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and drug maker Novartis, closed a $5m series B round on Friday featuring goods packaging machine supplier Industria Macchine Automatiche (IMA). The round was led by private investor Mark Bamforth and also included unspecified existing investors. Founded in 2012, Continuus has devised a drug manufacturing process that integrates active ingredient synthesis and final dosage compilation into a single process, meaning products can be supplied faster than with traditional batch production lines. It plans to contract its manufacturing services and will also build a portfolio of off-patent drug products in cooperation with pharmacies and hospitals, with the capital supporting technology development and recruitment. Mark Bamforth has joined the board of directors at Continuus, which previously closed a $2m series A round in 2014 led by IMA that included its existing investors, which had supplied a total of $395,000 of seed funding by 2013, though further historical details could not be ascertained.
My Intelligent Machines (Mims), a Canada-based life sciences data analytics software developer founded from University of Quebec, has closed a C$2.6m ($2m) seed round involving syndicate Anges Québec, BetaKit reported on Friday. Anges Québec Capital, the syndicate’s affiliate fund, also contributed together with Desjardins Capital, Real Ventures, and StandUp Ventures. Founded in 2016, Mims is working on a software-as-a-service platform that uses artificial intelligence and big data to evaluate data from life sciences experiments. Mims will employ the capital for further product development with the goal of accelerating third-party biological research.
NuCurrent, a US-based wireless power technology developer exploiting Northwestern University research, received $1m on Friday from Indiana University’s Philanthropic Venture Fund as part of an otherwise undisclosed series C round. Founded in 2013, NuCurrent aims to produce wireless systems for transmitting electricity on the back of innovations in power engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering and radio frequency engineering. The series C funding will support its growth strategy and efforts to scale. A security filing states NuCurrent raised $6.8m of a $12.5m equity round from undisclosed investors in July 2019, with the disclosure potentially referencing the series C funds. The company’s earlier four funding rounds raised a total of $10.4m in equity, debt and other securities between 2014 and September 2018, according to filings.
University of Colorado has licensed US-based precision cancer therapy developer Machavert Pharmaceuticals to carry forward patents targeting KRAS mutant cancers. The licence concerns inhibitors of the RAT GTPase signaling pathway, which is connected to the proliferation, survival and metastasis of cancerous tumours. Mutated KRAS genes are responsible for roughly one-third of cancer diagnoses and are especially difficult for oncologists to treat. Machavert Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2014 to deliver drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases. It has not disclosed details of earlier equity funding.
Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering formally announced new US-based spinout Fitbiomics on Friday to exploit research into probiotics for athletes. Founded in 2015, Fitbiomics hopes to commercialise probiotics based on the V.atypica bacteria to augment the microbiome health of athletes, in theory improving their performance and overall condition. The approach extends findings by Jonathan Scheiman, a former Wyss Institute postdoctoral fellow, and George Church, member of the institute’s core faculty, indicating elite athletes hold abnormal quantities of bacteria in the intestinal tract that can potentially affect performance and recovery outcomes.