Tuesday, March 25, 2008

AdiMab adds to coffers with a second-round funding

AdiMab Inc., a biotech focused on antibody discovery technology, has closed a Series B round of venture capital to fuel growth and hire more workers, company officials said.

The Lebanon, N.H.-based biotech declined to disclose the amount raised in its second round to protect its privacy, said Tillman Gerngross, CEO of the company. He said the funding would support the firm through 2009.

Previous backers Polaris Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences, both with offices in the Boston area, led the round. The VCs also led the biotech's $6.2 million Series A round last summer. Gerngross said the value of his biotech has increased by 300 percent from the time of the Series A to the Series B, based on investor valuations.

The biotech, which is developing a technology to discover antibodies in yeast, employs 24 people and expects to grow to 30 workers by mid-2008, Gerngross said. Polaris and SV Life Sciences also backed his previous biotech, GlycoFi Inc., which New Jersey drug giant Merck & Co. Inc. acquired in 2006 in a deal worth more than $400 million.