Evotec says it has stumped up $6 million and set up a new collab with the embryonic biotech Carrick this week, helping it reach its total $95 million from the Series A funding round.
The biotech-CRO hybrid says it has teamed up with the Dublin, Ireland-based company with the cash and also by providing “its full range of discovery and oncology services, through its discovery and preclinical platform,” according to a joint statement. This builds on a pact the two already have.
Carrick Therapeutics announced at the start of the week that it had completed a $95 million (€85 million) first open funding drive as it looks to become one of Europe’s leading oncology companies.
ARCH Venture Partners and Woodford Investment Management led the round, with GV--formerly known as Google Ventures--Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Lightstone Ventures and Evotec rounding out the rest of its backers.
It’s all very early stage, with few nailed-down details coming out of the biotech, but it did say that it was going after targeted, first-in-class treatments for aggressive cancers--regardless of the mechanism of action.
Evotec, which earlier this year spun out and invested in its own (and first) biotech, Topas Therapeutics, said it doesn’t expect the funding to impact its guidance for the year.
Dr. Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec, said: “We are very excited to be part of creating and co-owning a next generation leading oncology company. Putting all Evotec's tools that support innovation and capital efficiency at work will allow Carrick to very rapidly progress a first-in-class oncology pipeline.”
Chief Executive of Carrick Therapeutics, Dr. Elaine Sullivan, added: “Working with Evotec has allowed us to build a pipeline with optimal speed and highest quality.”