iPierian Nabs $22M, Names New CEO

iPierian, the South San Francisco-based developer of stem cell technology for drug discovery, said today it has raised $22 million in a Series B venture financing. Google Ventures led the round, which included Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, ATEL Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Highland Capital Partners, MPM Capital, and FinTech Global Capital. In connection with the financing, Michael Venuti is being promoted from president and chief scientific officer to CEO, replacing John Walker, who will remain a senior advisor. I profiled iPierian and its strategy to become a drug developer based on stem cell technology last month.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.