fundraise

Oculis raises $20.3m Series B round to advance treatment for Ophthalmic Diseases

Oculis, an Icelandic life sciences company, just announced a $20.3m (20m CHF) series B round led by a syndicate of leading life science venture funds including Bay City Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Pivotal bioVenture Partners. Existing investors, including Brunnur Ventures and Silfurberg, also participated in the financing.

“I am extremely pleased to be joining such a great team to develop what could be the next generation of ophthalmic treatments,” said Dr. Riad Sherif, who has been appointed CEO of the company. “Oculis founders have meticulously developed the novel SNP technology that improves both the ability to formulate drugs as eye drops and their bioavailability in eye tissues including the posterior segment.”

The funds will be used to advance the clinical development of the Company’s lead program OC-118, a proprietary topical product currently in a clinical trial for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), the leading cause of blindness in young adults in developed countries.

Following the financing, the company will relocate its headquarters to Switzerland, while its R&D will remain in Iceland.

The company previously raised an undisclosed round from Brunnur Ventures and Silfurberg.

Keystrike secures pre-seed funding from Philippe Langlois, cybersecurity entrepreneur

The Icelandic cybersecurity startup Keystrike has secured funding from Philippe Langlois, founder of cybersecurity company Qualys (QLYS) which is currently valued at over $4 billion. Keystrike’s technology was invented by Ymir Vigfusson, Associate Professor at Emory University, to rethink multi-factor authentication. “Keystrike seals off the path that is commonly

Smári McCarthy, CEO of Ecosophy and Steph Matti, COO of Ecosophy

Ecosophy's 'OverView' wins in EU Space Agency competition

Ecosophy’s prototype for its platform OverView is among the winners of the EU Space Agency’s (EUSPA) innovation competition. Ecosophy is an Icelandic startup focusing on making environmental data actionable, in part by making access to data from EUSPA’s Copernicus system accessible. The company received a prize of

Kerecis becomes Iceland's first Unicorn after being acquired by Coloplast for up to $1.3 billion

Kerecis has signed an agreement with Coloplast, the Danish medical device manufacturer, to be acquired for up to $1.3 billion, making them Iceland’s first Unicorn company. In today’s Kerecis business meeting, which took place in Ísafjörður where they have a manufacturing facility, Fertram Sigurjónsson, founder and CEO

Read next