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Cellular Genomics Gets $22.3M in First Series C Close, Looks for $8M More
By Estee Pierce
1/22/2004	Branford, Conn.

Cellular Genomics, a genomics-based drug discovery start-up, has raised $22.3 million in the initial close of a Series C financing. The company will look to cap the round with a total of $30 million from new and existing investors before the close of the quarter, said president and CEO Louis Matis

Lilly BioVentures, a new investor, led the round and was joined by other first-time investors Coastview Capital and Emerging Technology Partners. Existing investors that returned to invest in the Series C round included Connecticut Innovations, Flagship Ventures, MPM Capital, and Vector Fund Management.

Mr. Matis said the Branford, Conn.-based company held the initial close for the round earlier this week, and is in discussions with a couple of potential new investors that could come in the second close. "We have some of the additional funding circled already," he said. To date Cellular Genomics has raised nearly $50 million since it was founded, including a past investment from CHL Medical Partners. CHL may come in for the round's second close, Mr. Matis said.

Cellular Genomics's flagship Analog Sensitive Kinase Allele (ASKA) technology uses genetically modified kinases that retain the normal functions of kinases, but can be potently inhibited to discover and develop kinase and other signal transduction inhibitors for multiple clinical indications. The company is applying the ASKA technology to the development of an internal pipeline of drug candidates in cancer, angiogenesis, and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.

Proceeds from the new financing will be predominantly devoted to drug discovery and development of the company's internal pipeline, Mr. Matis said. New funds are expected to last through to 2006, into the initial phases of clinical development. In the past year, CGI has announced ASKA-related research collaborations with Affymetrix, Lilly, Serono SA, Schering, and Pfizer.

Upon this first close of the financing, Nick Colangelo, managing director of Lilly BioVentures, has been appointed to the Cellular Genomics board, as has Douglas Reed, managing director of Vector Fund Management. Other outside directors of the company include Noubar Afeyan, senior managing director and CEO of Flagship Ventures; Greg Gardiner, former group director of research and development at Pfizer; Ron Lennox, partner at CHL Medical Partners; and Michael Steinmetz, general partner of MPM Capital.

http://www.cellulargenomics.com/

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