NEW YORK – IMU Biosciences said Wednesday that it has closed a £11.5 million ($14.7 million) Series A financing round.
The London-based company said it will use the funds to advance its CytAtlas immune profiling platform, establish new strategic partnerships and projects, and expand its operations in the Boston area.
The round was led by European venture capital firm Molten Ventures and included LifeX Ventures and other individuals.
IMU combines immune profiling with an AI platform to build an immune atlas intended to aid research as well as the development of diagnostics, drugs, and tools for assessing treatment response in areas including immune-oncology, cell therapy, autoimmune disorders, and transplantation.
In conjunction with the fundraise, the company appointed Tim Haines to its board of directors as nonexecutive chair and Oliver Nussbaumer and Inga Deakin as nonexecutive directors.
Haines is an executive partner at life science investment group Abingworth. Nussbaumer is an immunologist specializing in immune-oncology and a cofounder of GammaDelta Therapeutics and Adaptate Biotherapeutics, both of which were acquired by Takeda. Deakin is a principal at Molten Ventures.
"IMU's technology has the potential to transform our understanding of the immune system," Deakin said in a statement. "Its advanced AI platform — combined with deep immune data profiling — enables unique insights into the immune system, which plays a critical role in virtually every disease. We are thrilled to lead this investment round and support IMU in their journey towards groundbreaking discoveries in healthcare.”
"With our technology, we're building the world's largest immune data assets across health and disease," IMU CEO and Cofounder Adam Laing said in a statement. "This systems-level approach to understanding immune function enables us to look at the bigger picture rather than just focusing on individual disease-associated parameters. Our goal is to revolutionize precision medicine, improving its effectiveness, reducing failure rates in clinical trials, and making these therapies more viable in the long run."