ImmunoScape scrapes $11m

ImmunoScape, a Singapore-based immunotherapy screening technology spinout of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), has attracted $11m from investors including University of Tokyo Edge Capital (Utec), the VC arm of University of Tokyo, the Straits Times reported yesterday.
Venture firm Anzu Partners led the round with a $6m commitment and was joined by undisclosed additional investors. Utec contributed $2.3m to the round.
Founded in 2016, ImmunoScape is working on biological assays to characterise the function of the immune system as the basis for evaluating immunotherapeutic drugs and vaccines for diseases such as cancer.
The platform provides insights on the phenotype and function of T-cells as well as their relationship to specific antigens, based on existing studies of various immune system interactions.
ImmunoScape expects to beef up its research team at its A*Star-based biotech lab facility and will additionally equip its assays with machine learning capabilities.
The company also has plans to recruit in the US with a view to introducing its product, in addition to entering Japan.
In addition to A*Star, the company has additional links to Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Parma and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, a partnership of Duke University and National University of Singapore.
Utec had already provided $2.4m at an undisclosed date, according to the Straits Times, although further details could not be ascertained.
Naonori Kurokawa, partner at Utec, said: “The ability to discover multiple T-cell antigens from patients is game-changing and can provide valuable and critical information to biotech companies developing cancer immunotherapy.”