North America

Santé Ventures names senior associate

Austin-based Santé Ventures, a healthcare and life sciences investment firm, has appointed Eric Epstein as senior associate. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Company where he was an engagement manager.

Biotech startup A-Alpha Bio nets $2.8 mln

Seattle-based A-Alpha Bio, a biotechnology startup, has raised $2.8 million in funding. OS Fund led the round with participation from other investors that included AME Cloud Ventures, Boom Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Sahsen Ventures and Washington Research Foundation.

VC-backed Artios appoints chief business officer

UK-based Artios Pharma Limited, a DNA damage response company developing treatments for cancer, has named Tania Dimitrova as chief business officer. Previously, she worked at Pfizer Inc where she was a director in worldwide business development. Artios is backed by Arix Bioscience plc, SV Health Investors, M Ventures, IP Group plc, AbbVie Ventures, Andera Partners, LSP, Pfizer Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund.

Amphivena Therapeutics lands $62 mln Series C

South San Francisco-based Amphivena Therapeutics Inc, a developer of T cell engager therapeutics for cancer, has raised $62 million in Series C financing. NanoDimension and Qiming Venture Partners USA led the round.

French medical device firm FeetMe snags Series A

Paris-based FeetMe, a medical device company, has raised 9.4 million euros in Series A funding. LBO France led the round with participation from Kurma Diagnostics, Paris Saclay seed fund, Idinvest Partners, Seventure and SOSV.

500 Startups recruits Wang as managing partner

San Francisco-based venture firm 500 Startups has named Tony Wang as a managing partner. Prior to joining 500 Startups, Wang was chief operating officer at Color.

Toronto AI SaaS startup ODAIA fetches $1.6 mln

Toronto-based ODAIA, an AI SaaS startup, has secured $1.6 million in funding. Panache Ventures and StandUp Ventures led the round with participation from BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, Inovia Capital and MaRS IAF. This new group of investors joins pre-seed investors that include Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, University of Toronto’s UTEST, N49P, Ontario Centres of Excellence and Amar Varma, co-founder of Autonomic.ai (acquired by Ford). The capital infusion will be used to make key technical hires, support early customers and prepare for the public launch of ODAIA’s AI SaaS platform.

Siguler Guff leads funding round for Chinese online marketplace Plum

Plum, a Chinese online marketplace for used fashion and luxury products, has secured $20 million in funding. Siguler Guff led the round with participation from Recruit.

Health tech company Lumasol nabs $3 mln seed

Lumasol, a health technology company, has secured $3 million in seed funding. The investors were Pathfinder at Founders Fund and Greycroft Ventures.

Residential rental startup Zumper hires new COO and president

San Francisco-based Zumper, a residential rental startup, has hired Vishal Makhijani as its new chief operating officer and president, according to a source at the firm. Makhijani is the former CEO of Udacity and ex-COO at Zynga. The investors included Axel Springer, Stereo Capital, Blackstone, Dawn Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Breyer Capital, Scott Cook and Goodwater Capital.