Rakuten Medical, a San Mateo CA-based biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative oncology products for multiple indications, raised $166M in Series D funding.
The preferred stock financing included $75m in new capital and the conversion of $91m of convertible promissory notes, including accrued interest. The round was led by General Catalyst with additional participation from existing investors, including Rakuten Group and SBI Group.
The company intends to use the funds to advance ongoing trials of ASP-1929 in several oncologic indications and research and development of additional pipeline therapies being developed using the Illuminox™ platform.
Led by Mickey Mikitani, Rakuten Medical is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell-targeting investigational therapies on its Illuminox™ platform, which, in pre-clinical studies have been shown to induce rapid and selective cell killing and tumor necrosis. Outside of Japan, Illuminox therapies have not yet been approved as safe or effective by any regulatory authority. The company’s first drug developed on the Illuminox platform, ASP-1929, has received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, and is currently the subject of a global phase 3 clinical trial for recurrent head and neck cancer.
Rakuten Medical, which has 6 locations in 5 countries, including the United States, where it is headquartered, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Switzerland, is also continuing to develop additional therapies on its Illuminox™ platform for a range of oncological indications.
FinSMEs
02/08/2021