Keio spinout Heartseed has added $37m to its coffers thanks to the university's Innovation Initiative and UTokyo Innovation Platform.
Heartseed, a Japan-based myocardial regenerative medicine developer spun out of Keio University’s School of Medicine, has picked up $37m in a series C round backed by Keio’s Innovation Initiative and University of Tokyo’s Innovation Platform.
The round also included financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Investment unit and investment firm Medical Incubator Japan, financial services firm SBI Group, and banking group Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital vehicle.
Insurer Nippon Life’s Nissay Capital subsidiary, medical supplies vendor Medipal Holdings and organic and speciality chemicals producer Itochu Chemical Frontier filled out the round.
Founded in 2015, Heartseed is working on treatments for heart failure. It will use the money to accelerate the launch of a global clinical trial and a phase 1/2 study in Japan, as well as explore a less invasive administration for its therapy.
Heartseed previously collected $25.8m in a series B round in November 2019 from medical data technology provider JMDC and biopharmaceutical firm Gene Techno Science, as well as Nissay Capital and SMBC Capital.
The series B also attracted pharmaceutical firm Astellas and financial services firms, which invested through Astellas Venture Management and SBI Investment, respectively.
The spinout raised $7.2m in series A financing from Astellas Venture Management, packaging company Shibuya Kogyo and angel syndicate Angel Bridge in July 2018. The latter had already supplied $880,000 in funding in March 2016.