VC firms invest in $40m series-B for Anokion

Taking part in the financing were Versant Ventures, Novartius Venture Fund, Novo Ventures and unnamed Switzerland-based investors.

Anokion simultaneously announced the acquisition of US-based counterpart Kanyos Bio. The addition of Kanyos Bio adds the drug KAN-101 to the portfolio, an antigen-specific treatment for celiac disease.

Previous funding
Novartis and Versant co-led a CHF 33m series-A funding round for Anokion in 2014.

The company has raised a total of $160m in equity and partner capital, according to a statement from the firm.

Company
Headquartered in Lausanne, Anokion is a spinout from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and has developed a technology for retraining white blood cells to induce therapeutic immune tolerance. The technology uses the body's natural immune regulation by engineering proteins to be perceived as "self" entities and therefore treat autoimmune and allergic diseases. As a platform, Anokion's approach can be translated to other proteins in clinical indications. The company was founded in 2012.

People
Anokion – John Hohneker (CEO).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• DACH
• Healthcare
• Venture
• Switzerland