Money Moves: These 3 DC-area companies raised millions in VC funding

There’s been lots of new funding rolling in lately for local startups.

Recently, we reported on funding raises from ratings and reviews platform creator Clutch, which secured an $18 million Series A, and Bethesda, Maryland-based healthtech company Aledade, which closed a $64 million Series C last week.

Other recent funding raises for Immunomic Therapeutics, ReAlta Life Sciences and Federated Wireless range from $14 million up to $61 million.

Immunomic Therapeutics

Rockville, Maryland-based Immunomic Therapeutics closed a $61.3 million funding round with one investor, global pharmaceutical company HLB Consortium. The 15-year-old biotech company develops vaccines through its proprietary technology platform.

This fresh funding follows a $10 million investment from HLB that closed in February. It will go toward expanding Immunomic Therapeutics’ platform; accelerating clinical trials for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive cancer that starts in the brain; and shifting some focus to developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Aligned with this latest investment, HLB increased its holding in Immunomic Therapeutics to 47.6%, and five members from HLB will join the biotech company’s board of directors.

“We are pleased to welcome HLB as a significant shareholder of Immunomic Therapeutics and look forward to working with them within the framework of the HLB Bio family of companies,” said Immunomic Therapeutics CEO Dr. William Hearl in a statement. “With HLB’s support, we are well-positioned to accelerate our efforts in immuno-oncology, in particular glioblastoma multiforme, and rapidly advance other key candidates in our pipeline, including our most recent initiative into infectious diseases with development of our vaccine candidate for COVID-19.”

Immunomic Therapeutics and HLB are also working together to establish a brain cancer research center in South Korea.

ReAlta Life Sciences

ReAlta Life Sciences, a Norfolk, Virginia-based biotech startup, closed a second Series A round of $14 million, bringing its total Series A financing to $26 million. The round was led by led by Children’s Research Holdings and Marathon Pharma with additional investors not disclosed.

The two-year-old company uses its proprietary technology platform to develop treatments for life-threatening medical needs. ReAlta Life Sciences plans to use the latest funding to further develop its treatment of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a birth complication affecting newborns who aren’t getting the proper flow of oxygen to their brains. A portion of the fresh funding will also go toward the exploration of therapeutic programs to address inflammatory disorders that can arise due to COVID-19.

“As we prepare for the important transition into a clinical-stage organization later this year, we appreciate our investors’ continued confidence in our platform and pipeline,” said ReAlta CEO Dr. Ulrich Thienel. “In particular, we are accelerating our efforts to address acute lung injury to help in the important and urgent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Our mission is to address life-threatening medical diseases.”

Federated Wireless

On April 21, Arlington, Virginia-based Federated Wireless announced that it has secured an additional $13.7 million in Series C funding from existing investors, Allied Minds and Pennant Investors. Launched in 2012, Federated Wireless is a spectrum sharing and private wireless networks provider. This latest investment follows the company initial Series C funding raise of $51 million back in September.

Federated Wireless plans to use the new funding to expand to more markets and secure its partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure to offer Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS).

“The rapid adoption and general enthusiasm that we have seen since FCC approval for commercial deployment of CBRS [Citizens Broadband Radio Service] is even greater than we anticipated, and is driving both Federated Wireless and the wireless industry as a whole to new heights,” said Federated Wireless President and CEO Iyad Tarazi. “Our newest developments, CaaS and extending the Spectrum Controller to 6 GHz, have greatly expanded our footprint and our opportunities, and I would like to thank our investors for continuing to support us as we continue to grow.”