On-Q-ity, Formed From Two MDV Companies, Nabs $21M To Launch Products
By Jonathan Matsey
Formed from two Mohr Davidow Ventures companies merged in the economic downturn, cancer diagnostics company On-Q-ity Inc. said it has raised $21 million in Series A financing to launch its first two products.
MDV led the round, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Northgate Capital and Physic Ventures. Valuation was not disclosed.
MDV and Northgate were investors in Cellective Dx Corp., the former CellPoint Diagnostics Inc., which had raised about $25 million, while MDV had invested about $5 million in DNA Repair Co., said Sue Siegel, general partner at MDV.
Cellective focused on studying circulating tumor cells, cancerous cells found in the bloodstream which have gained attention not only as a marker for diagnostic tests but also fingered as a mechanism in the body used for tumors to metastasize. DNA Repair concentrated on studying nucleic repair pathways.
Siegel said both companies were looking to take new rounds last fall, but inauspicious timing led to a tepid investor response. "When they were going out for funding was when the market meltdown occurred," she said.
In the meantime, Siegel said, Cellective tapped former Genzyme Genetics President Mara Aspinall as a consultant and the firm consulted the company's scientific advisory boards. The conclusion, in short: Merge the companies and tap Aspinall as chief executive.
While that was completed in May, Siegel said, her firm was lucky to have both pieces of the puzzle in its own portfolio. "If one of them had been in another firm's portfolio, I'm not sure it could have been done," she said, referring to the process of aligning the business interests and shareholder bases of two cash-hungry companies.
The resulting company is aimed at providing personalized diagnostic and monitoring for a variety of solid-tumor cancers. "This is a services company," said Aspinall. "Samples that come to our lab in Massachusetts which we will analyze and send the data to physicians."
Aspinall said she also hopes that On-Q-ity, by focusing on blood markers, will make it easier for patients on a treatment regimen by reducing the need for biopsies. "What is interesting about this is the quality of life, minimizing invasiveness," she said.
Aspinall said the funding will allow the company to launch the first two tests - for breast and thoracic cancers - but declined to provide a timeframe for those milestones.
On-Q-ity, based in Waltham, Mass., has fewer than two dozen employees.
