NEW YORK (360Dx) – Inanovate, a company developing blood-based tests for cancer and autoimmune diseases, said on Wednesday it closed on an initial Series C financing round that raised $3.1 million.
The company — which has offices in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, and Raleigh, North Carolina — said it anticipates a second closing of the Series C round in the second quarter of this year.
The current investment will accelerate development of Inanovate's breast cancer blood test, which aims to identify false positives from screening mammograms and reduce unnecessary follow-up imaging. The firm's tests detect antibodies in blood that are associated with breast cancer and leverages Inanovate's biomarker analysis platform, BioID-800, a benchtop instrument that uses disposable test cartridges.
Inanovate CEO David Ure said in a statement that the technology can be extended for diagnostic, prognostic, and monitoring purposes of other cancer types and for a variety of autoimmune diseases. A second test from Inanovate is being planned to monitor breast cancer patients through therapy and beyond and to identify possible disease recurrence at its earliest stage.
The $3.1 million investment was led by South Dakota Equity Partners, T. Denny Sanford, and Sanford Frontiers, a corporate affiliate of Sanford Health. It builds on a $2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant that Inanovate received from the National Cancer Institute this past year. The company also said it reached a licensing and collaboration deal with Sanford Health for access to intellectual property related to breast cancer biomarkers and patient recruitment and sample access for Inanovate's clinical trials.