Portfolio News

Koneksa Completes $16M Series B Financing to Expand Digital Biomarker Platform September 28, 2020

Koneksa, a company that develops and implements patient-centric digital biomarkers for drug development, has closed a $16 million Series B financing round. The funds will be used to expand the development of Koneksa’s digital platform for integrating wearables, sensors, and other patient-facing technologies into clinical research. The round was led by Spring Mountain Capital, with new investors McKesson Ventures, Novartis Pharma AG, and MBX Capital. The company’s existing investors also participated in the round. Since its 2015 launch, Koneksa has partnered with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to...

Illumina to Acquire GRAIL to Launch New Era of Cancer Detection September 21, 2020

GRAIL and Illumina have entered into a definitive agreement under which Illumina will acquire GRAIL for cash and stock consideration of $8 billion upon closing of the transaction. In addition, GRAIL stockholders will receive future payments representing a tiered single-digit percentage of certain GRAIL-related revenues. The agreement has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. “Over the last four years, GRAIL’s talented team has made exceptional progress in developing the technology and clinical data required to launch the Galleri™ multi-cancer screening test. Galleri...