Google contributes to $14M round for fast-growing Adimab

Fast-growing Adimab has added close to $14 million in venture cash to the bank as it hires on new staffers and preps for a move into a 21,500-square-foot lab in Lebanon, NH. Google Ventures, Polaris and SV Life Sciences put up the money, which brings the antibody company's total venture haul to $42 million.

"We bought a whole new building," Adimab Chief Operating Officer Errik Anderson tells FierceBiotech, acquiring a lab that Dartmouth is vacating. Anderson adds that the new money--which brings the valuation of the company to close to $600 million--will be used to invest in complementary technologies. Adimab is adding new capabilities on bi-specifics, antibody drug conjugates, targeting cell-based antigens including GPCRs and ion channels, as well as preclinical manufacturing and mammalian cell line development to its antibody development platform. 

"We continue to push the boundaries of what we're able to do on the core business," adds Anderson, who defines the company's mission as "discovering monoclonal antibodies better than anyone." 

That core business has already attracted a who's who in biopharma, with companies like Biogen Idec ($BIIB), Roche ($RHHBY), Merck ($MRK) and Novartis ($NVS) signing up to work with the company. And Adimab, which typically only announces new pacts with top companies in the industry, has another deal in the works, says Anderson.

Adimab, which was founded by CEO Tillman Gerngross, needs the new space. The staff has grown to 67 and Anderson expects that figure will swell to about 75 by the end of the year. The COO says that Adimab will be profitable this year. Adimab was named a Fierce 15 company in 2010.

- here's the press release

Special Report: Adimab - 2010 Fierce 15