$40M invested in biotech startup | Increased investments in Miracle Alley

$40M invested in biotech startup

PITTSBURGH, PA–Novasenta Inc., a startup biotechnology company focused on developing cancer therapies, has completed $40 million in Series A financing led by UPMC Enterprises, the innovation, venture capital and commercialization arm of health system UPMC. The funding will allow Novasenta to advance its pipeline of antibody-based therapeutics and expand its proprietary platforms for target discovery, as well as recruit top talent.

VC firm aims to increase investments in Miracle Alley

MINNEAPOLIS, MN–Minnesota’s Miracle Alley is one of the hottest incubators for medtech innovation and is home to more than 1,000 healthcare tech companies. A new VC firm has launched in the area to help decrease friction between early stage medtech companies and their investors. Engage Venture Partners seeks to give investors more flexibility and lower management fees through its special-purpose vehicles (SPV) model. One of the firm’s managing directors is Steve Sigmond, founder of Carrot Health, which was acquired last year by Unite Us.

IU Ventures backs peer support platform

BLOOMINGTON, IN–A platform founded by Indiana University that hopes to transform peer-to-peer patient support has gotten support from IU Ventures. inTandem Health is a tech-enabled peer support platform that is designed to connect patients who have experienced the same diagnosis. IU Ventures will provide financial support to inTandem through two of its major investment programs, the IU Angel Network and the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund.

$11.2M to Kansas State to research plasticity

MANHATTAN, KS–The NIH has granted $11.2 million to Kansas State University’s Cognitive and Neurobiological Approaches to Plasticity Center (CNAP). The money will fund the next five years of research on plasticity, which is the way the brain changes over time.