Biotech ReViral and early-stage startups raise nearly £40M

Biotech and clinical expert ReViral raises £33.3M

In this Series C funding, ReViral, that is focused on discovering, developing, and selling novel antiviral therapeutics to fight against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), was backed by CR-CP Life Science Fund, Andera Partners, Brace Pharma Capital, Green Sands Equity, New Leaf Venture Partners, Novo Holdings, OrbiMed Advisors, and Perceptive Advisors.

The funds will be used to support Phase 2 clinical development for sisunatovir, a wholly-owned fusion protein inhibitor, and to progress the N-protein replication inhibitor program into Phase 1.

Revolutionary healthtech Humanity launches after raising a £1.9M seed round

New healthtech app Humanity was backed by US fund One Way Ventures and 46 investors including HealthTech Angel investor Esther Dyson, Seedcamp, Jane Metcalfe (co-founder of Wired Magazine), along with Michael Acton-Smith and Alex Tew (co-founders of Calm app). Founded by serial entrepreneurs Peter Ward and Michael Geer, Humanity aims to help people live healthier and longer lives.

By tracking ageing biomarkers, alongside personal characteristics and lifestyle choices, the freemium subscription service uses AI and scientific algorithms to allow users to monitor their rate of ageing and show them what actions they can take to slow it down, or even reverse it.

Gen inCode received £1.5M from Maven Capital Partners

Founded in 2018, Gen inCode is a genetic testing business specialising in the risk assessment and prediction of cardiovascular disease and was backed by Maven Capital Partners. Gen inCode has developed a range of patented DNA risk assessment products which utilise AI, bioinformatics and a globally recognised clinical evidence base to provide predictive analysis of a patient’s health risk.

With the funding, Gen inCode prepares to accelerate its growth and expand internationally, as well as supporting its regulatory and clinical pathway into the US market.

On-demand construction services app Skrap receives £1.2M seed funding

Skrap, which delivers skip and construction hire services via a mobile app was backed by Vanneck Investments – together with entrepreneurs and angels investors including Charles Songhurst, Eamon Jubbawy (Onfido), Anil Stocker (MarketFinance), Paul Huntingdon (ARM), Adrian Beecroft, Dennis Stevenson, Peter Brodnicki (MAB), Jay Radia (Yieldify, Reachdesk), and James Hind (Carwow). Skrap will use the investment to accelerate its expansion across major cities.

In the construction business, logistics are usually dis-organised and fragmented, prices are asymmetric, and the marketplace of suppliers and brokers are doing everything manually, Skrap was founded in 2017 – by co-founders Hussain Hilli, Ahmed Rao and Marwan Field – to enable SME builders to order any construction hire service at the click of a button.

Legaltech Thirdfort raises £1M in seed+ funding

Founded in 2017, legaltech startup Thirdfort was backed by a number of high-profile investors including James Meekings and Andy Mullinger, co-founders of Funding Circle, and David Rutter, founder of R3, as well as law firm Mishcon de Reya and a range of other private investors.

This new funding will encourage the company to invest across its business, as its law firm clients aim to accelerate the adoption of secure, remote, user-friendly technology in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hospitality tipping fintech TiPJAR overfunds on Crowdcube and raises £490K in seed funding

Designed for hospitality staff, TiPJAR is a powerful, legally compliant distribution engine that empowers staff to control and share their tips fairly and transparently, relieving the administrative burden and risk away from business owners.

Crowdfunding now on Crowdcube, the startup received a significant amount from Fourth Hospitality Software Solutions which led to over 160% in overfunding. With the seed funding, TiPJAR aims to provide a solution for guests to tip workers in less than 8 seconds via their phones, with no app required.

Caper secures £300K seed funding from LEGO Ventures and Founders Factory

Founded in 2020 – by CEO Ben Geliher, Creative Director Graham Denney, and CMO Sara Perkins, Caper is an interactive adventure app for families with kids aged 4-9 and has seen huge traction during the lockdown period as families have spent increasing time together and sought new activities to keep little ones busy.

The UK-based startup has announced a £300K seed investment round led by LEGO Ventures with participation from Founders Factory. Caper aims to be the world’s leading interactive entertainment company bringing parents and children closer to each other and the world around them.

Investments around the world

San Francisco biotech Freenome raised a milestone $270m in Series C

Freenome was backed by Bain Capital Life Sciences and Perceptive Advisors, as well as investors and experts from the biotech and health sectors. The company will mainly use the funds to accelerate a clinical trial for its blood test for colorectal cancer screening and precancerous lesion detection. It also plans to advance a pipeline of blood tests for both the early detection and early intervention of additional cancers, and continue to build its proprietary multi-omics platform.

NYC health firm Aetion receives a total of $82M in Series B funding

Headquartered in New York, Aetion, a healthtech that delivers real-world evidence (RWE) for biopharma companies, payers, and regulatory agencies, raised a $19M extension to its Series B funding round. Investors included Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JJDC, EDBI, and Greenspring Associates, among others. The funding sets the total Series B funding to $82M and will allow the company to enhance its tech capabilities to continue to assess the safety, effectiveness, and value of medications and to advance its global effort in establishing standards for RWE.

Global data leader Supermetrics raises €40M to fuel expansion

Finland-based and world leader in data integration Supermetrics, is used and trusted by Fortune 500 leaders and has received €40M from Highland Europe and IVP to fund its next major phase of expansion, including bringing data warehousing to the marketing sector. Designed by marketing experts, Supermetrics is an out-of-the-box, SaaS data management and analysis tool built to give professionals the answers they need to run effective and impactful campaigns.

News from the financial world

Tandem Bank acquires Allium Lending Group

Tandem Bank is becoming the UK’s first green digital retail bank, as it acquires Allium Lending Group, a leading green lending business, as part of a £60M fundraising deal that was closed last week. Allium aims to help its customers become more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, by financing everything from home insulation, energy-efficient boilers and double glazing, to solar panels, heat pumps and home charging stations.

US-based IT solutions provider Lifesize acquired digital expert Kaptivo

Texas-based Lifesize, a provider of immersive enterprise communication solutions has acquired Kaptivo, a digital collaboration solutions company based in Cambridge. With Kaptivo, Lifesize expects to expand its portfolio of cloud-based unified communications and collaboration (UCC) solutions for contact centres, video conferencing and meeting rooms with their new suite of advanced collaboration tools.

Cross-border fintech WorldRemit to buy remittance app Sendwave

WorldRemit, a global cross-border payments company plans to acquire Sendwave, an app-based remittance company. The transaction is expected to close once licensing and regulations are approved later this year. The combined company will help get the acquiring of US state licences across a network that includes 50+/150+ send/receive countries and almost 8,000 payments corridors to serve the fragmented $715B remittances market that the World Bank estimates to increasingly growing by 10% year on year.