- Cancer diagnostics: Bristol-Myers (NYSE:BMY) co-led a $75M Series B round in Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx), a cancer diagnostics startup. New Enterprise Associates also led and was joined by Co-win Healthcare Fund, Helsinn Investment Fund, Inova Strategic Investments, the Maryland Venture Fund, and Windham Venture Partners. The round brings PGDx up to $99.3M in total funding, according to Crunchbase.
- PGDx will use the funding to develop an in-vitro diagnostic test kit for easier genomic testing. Labs wanting to use PGDx tests currently have to send samples into the company’s labs in Baltimore. PGDx plans to pursue FDA and international approvals to package the kits for independent labs to use in-house, which would speed up test results and treatment.
- Competitors: Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX), Inivata, and Resolution Biosciences.
- Biomed data: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) made an undisclosed strategic investment in biomedical data management company DNAnexus as part of a $58M financing round. Foresite Capital led the round with existing investors include GV (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Claremont Creek, MidCap Financial, TPG Biotech, and WuXi NextCODE. The round brings DNAnexus up to $104.6M in total funding.
- DNAnexus developed a platform providing large genomic and biomedical datasets from which companies can gain insights or build and deploy apps. The company has an early access program for Google Brain’s DeepVariant Technology and has a collaboration with AstraZeneca’s (NYSE:AZN) Centre for Genomics Research.
- Competitor: Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) has the BaseSpace Sequence Hub, a could-based genomics platform.
- Digital therapeutics: Novartis (NYSE:NVS) was among the investors in a $50M Series B round for prescription digital therapeutics developer Pear Therapeutics. Temasek led the round with other new and returning investors 5AM Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, the Bridge Builder’s Collaborative, JAZZ Venture Partners, and EDBI. The round brings total funding up to $70M.
- Pear Therapeutics received FDA approval last September for its reSET application, which was “the first mobile medical application to help treat substance use disorders.” The app is used in conjunction with outpatient therapy for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and stimulant substance abuse disorders but not for opioid treatment.
- The company’s pipeline includes reset-O for opioid use, THRIVE for schizophrenia, recall for combat PTSD, and reVIVE for general anxiety disorder, pain, major depressive disorder, and insomnia.
- Autonomous vehicle tech: Cisco Investments (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Samsung (KS:005930) Catalyst Fund (OTC:SSNNF, OTC:SSNLF) participated in a $38M Series C round for full-stack autonomous vehicle tech company AImotive. B Capital Group and Prime Ventures led the round with other participants including Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Inventure, Draper Associates, and Day One Capital. The round brought AImotive’s total fundraising up to $47.3M.
- AImotive provides camera-first, AI-powered autonomous driving tech that uses the cameras to mimic human vision. Products include aiDrive, aiSim, and aiWare, which are also available as a suite for OEMs and mobility players. Current collaborations exist with Groupe PSA, SAIC, and Volvo.
- AImotive has offices around the world and is testing self-driving vehicles in Hungary, Finland, and the U.S. states of California and Nevada. Testing in Japan, China, and a U.S. expansion should happen this year.
- Competitors: AImotive competes broadly with self-driving vehicle tech leaders Google, Uber (Private:UBER), and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) plus assistive tech providers like Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) Mobileye (OTC:MBBYF).
- Trucking logistics: JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) subsidiary JD Logistics led a $23M Series C round in Chinese trucking logistics startup Fuyoukache, which brings the round total up to $59M and total funding up to $98.2M. Other participants were existing investors Legend Capital, which led the first phase of the round, Eastern Bell Venture Capital, and Global Logistic Properties.
- Fuyoukache provides long-distance truck logistic services to enterprises, individuals, and third-party logistics companies. The company operates in 31 provinces in China and has partnerships with more than 30 regional logistics companies.
- E-sports streaming: Google (GOOG, GOOGL) joined an undisclosed Series D round in Chinese gaming live-stream company Chushou. Other investors include Qiming Venture, Shunwei Capital, and Alpha X Capital. Chushou said it had raised $120M to date.
- Chushou has around 8M streamers and 250K live streams per day. The company plans to use the funding to expand services to include overseas viewers.
- Google’s search engine is blocked in China and the tech giant has used investments as a way to broaden its presence in the market. Google took a minority stake in Chinese AI startup Mobvoi in 2015 during a $75M fundraising round.
- Previously: Venture capital deals of the week (Dec. 23, 2017)
- Now read: Cisco: What Matters Most Ahead Of Earnings
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