Companies Raise $115 Million in Follow-on Funding

Two dozen bioscience companies that previously received loans from the Biotech Center raised about $115 million in follow-on funding from other sources in the last two quarters, according to research by the Biotech Center’s Life Science Intelligence staff.

Accounting for most of that total was Durham-based Humacyte, which raised about $75 million in Series C preferred stock financing from a consortium of current and new investors. Humacyte is a regenerative medicine company that bioengineers blood vessels for potential use in patients undergoing dialysis for kidney failure.

Other companies raising venture capital during the period include:

•    Baebies, which raised more than $8 million. The Durham company develops newborn screening and pediatric testing systems for detecting various diseases from blood samples.
•    Locus Biosciences, which raised $7 million. The Research Triangle Park company is developing precision antimicrobials that avoid known antibiotic-resistance mechanisms. 
•    T3D Therapeutics, which raised $6 million in venture capital. The Research Triangle Park company is developing a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.
•    Ribometrix, which raised $3.5 million. The Durham company develops small-molecule drugs that bind to RNA, modulating the role of RNA in disease.
•    Camras Vision, which raised $3 million. The Research Triangle Park company is developing a device for treating glaucoma to stop vision loss.

Durham-based EpiCypher, which provides tools and service for epigenetics and chromatin biology research, won four grants totaling about $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health.

On average, every dollar of NCBiotech loan support leverages $103 in follow-on funding to young NC companies. An adjacent story details NCBiotech funding during the Center’s past two fiscal quarters.