Series B
Washington, D.C.-based Chase Pharmaceuticals Corporation, an early stage pharma, has secured$21 million in a Series B investment round. The funding came by way of a syndicate that New Rhein Healthcare Investors, LLC led. Fresh backers Cipla Ventures and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners joined previous investor Brain Trust Accelerator Fund in contributing. “Alzheimer’s disease afflicts 7.5 million Americans and represents one of our country’s most significant growing unmet medical needs,” says Dr. Greg Parekh, who is becoming the company’s board chairman, in a press release. “By cleverly improving existing on-market drugs, Chase Pharmaceuticals builds on proven therapies and offers patients and their caregivers new hope for a better quality of life in the relatively near term.”
Funding
Video creation company Wochit has raised $11 million in new funding led by Marker LLC, says TechCrunch. The New York venture counts Cedar Fund, Greycroft Partners and Redpoint Ventures as investors — all of whom contributed to this round. The company serves clients such as Forbes, AOLOn, The Chicago Tribune, and Yahoo, co-founder and CEO Dror Ginzberg told TechCrunch.
M&A
Chicago PE investment company Thoma Bravo, LLC has completed the $930 million acquisition of New York-based TravelClick, “a global provider of innovative cloud-based revenue-generating solutions for the $500 billion global hospitality industry,” says a press release. The latter company serves upwards of 38,000 hotel customers across more than 150 countries.
Dublin’s Shire plc, a pharmaceuticals company, and San Diego biopharmaLumena Pharmaceuticals have revealed the former company’s purchase of the latter. “Shire will acquire Lumena Pharmaceuticals for an upfront payment of $260 million in cash, plus a payment for net cash at closing, and near-term contingent milestone payments related to ongoing clinical trials,” says a press release.
Lake Forest, IL-based Akorn, Inc. will buyVersaPharm Incorporatedparent VPI Holdings Corp. The cash transaction will run Akorn $440 million; about $445 million in term loan borrowings on Akorn’s side will support the deal. “This acquisition is expected to add $90 to $100 million in annual revenues and $0.10 to $0.12 in earnings per share, excluding new pipeline launches, deal amortization and acquisition-related expenses,” says a press release. VersaPharm Incorporated has its base in Marietta, Georgia.