Biotechnology company Intrexon has launched a new fundraising round aimed at bringing in $50 million in new investment.
The DNA technologies company has raised $17 million in equity financing in the effort so far, according to securities filings. Last year, Intrexon closed a $100 million series E round of financing to expand its genetics technology. The latest round includes two investors so far in a sale that began on Dec. 23.
Privately held Intrexon, based in Blacksburg, Virginia, is a synthetic biology company developing ways to design and construct transgenes with unique characteristics not typically found in nature. Intrexon last year expanded its footprint into the Carolinas via two acquisitions.
Last February, the company acquired Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Agarigen, a company researching the common mushroom as a way to manufacture biologics. Mushroom-made pharmaceuticals could deliver therapeutics at less cost compared to cell culture technologies. The RTP site is now Intrexon’s agricultural biotechnology division.
In October, Intrexon acquired Charleston, South Carolina-based Immunologix. The company, based on research from the Medical University of South Carolina, has developed a novel antibodies platform technology with a range of therapeutic applications including cancer, viruses, bacteria and autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and lupus.
