G1 banks $33m series B

G1 Therapeutics, an oncology spin-out of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has secured $33m in its series B.

The round was co-led by Eshelman Ventures and RA Capital Management, which are joined by new investors Lumira Capital and Boxer Capital. Existing backers Hatteras Venture Partners, Mountain Group Capital, and MedImmune Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of AstraZeneca subsidiary MedImmune, also joined the round.

The funding bring G1’s total backing to $45.5m, following a series A round held in 2013 worth $12.5m.

Launched in 2008 as G-Zero, the company is commercialising oncology therapies originating from Chapel Hill which look to be both more effective and less toxic than current methods. Last year, the firm opened up a clinical trial into a drug that essentially hides certain cells from the ravaging effects of chemotherapy.

Judith Cone, the chancellor’s special assistant for innovation and entrepreneurship at Chapel Hill, said: “G1 Therapeutics’ success reflects Carolina’s mission to spur innovation and entrepreneurship by our faculty and students. To date that effort has yielded over 150 startup companies that employ more than 8,000 people in North Carolina. More than 60 of those companies were – like G1 Therapeutics – created to license technologies developed here at UNC-Chapel Hill.”