NEW YORK – Akadeum Life Sciences announced on Thursday an initial close of its Series A financing, which will be used to "solve longstanding problems in sample preparation."
A spokesman for the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based firm said that it has raised about $4 million in the Series A round so far but declined to say how much it plans to raise in total "because we expect the round to be oversubscribed." In a statement, Akadeum added that it is pursuing additional financing during the first quarter of 2020 when the Series A round is anticipated to close.
Investors in the financing included venture groups such as the University of Michigan's MINTS, or Michigan Invests in New Technology Startups, program, as well as Berkeley Catalyst Fund. Angel investors also participated in the round.
Akadeum is developing microbubble technology for the isolation and identification of circulating tumor cells and other molecules, which it said will improve workflow, performance, and sample integrity. It said it is focused on markets including liquid biopsy, cell therapy, food pathogens, and others. In October, the company announced a deal with Agilent Technologies to develop a new method of isolating target molecules for analytical workflows.
Akadeum also said on Thursday that William Hyun is joining its board as a Series A director. According to his LinkedIn profile, Hyun is the lab director for advanced cytometry at the University of California, San Francisco and a partner at Genoa Ventures.