Molecular Imaging Closes Series A Financing Round

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ANN ARBOR – Ann Arbor-based Molecular Imaging, Inc. announced today that it has closed its Series A financing round, originally targeted for $8.5 million, at $9.9 million. The company is pleased to announce that it has secured a $2.5 million investment from Beringea through the $185 million InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund plus another $350,000 from existing shareholders Baird Venture Partners (BVP) and Invest Detroit. Combined with $7.05 million previously provided by BVP, Arcus Ventures and Invest Detroit, Molecular Imaging’s Series A round was over-subscribed by nearly $1.5 million.

Molecular Imaging is a specialty contract research organization (CRO) providing in vivo preclinical imaging services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to enhance early-stage research and development decision-making. Molecular Imaging has a proven track record of imaging and discovery expertise in oncology and inflammation and is extending its imaging efforts into other therapeutic areas. The company’s imaging modalities include MRI, micro-PET, bioluminescence, fluorescence (two- and three-dimensional with fluorescence molecular tomography) and micro-CT. Molecular Imaging has performed nearly 400 imaging studies since its founding in 2003, supporting the needs of more than 100 customers.

Michael Gross, managing director for Beringea and now a director of Molecular Imaging said, “Beringea is excited to make this investment in Molecular Imaging – it’s the 26th company in the InvestMichigan! Growth Capital fund portfolio. We believe that the early application of imaging in drug discovery can make a significant difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s R&D investment. The growing use of multi-modality imaging is enhancing anatomical and functional assessments of diseases and treatments and is a very powerful tool in helping select compounds or biologics with the  greatest clinical potential. We look forward to Molecular Imaging leading the way in this important area.”

“We are very pleased to have Beringea as part of the Molecular Imaging team,” said Tom Ludlam, president and CEO of Molecular Imaging. “With their investment, we look forward to further advancing our efforts to grow and diversify both the imaging modalities and the range of disease models we offer to our customers. Our recent agreement with Dana Farber Cancer Institute, which gave us access to a broad line of luciferase-enabled cell lines, is just one example of the kinds of opportunities this investment from Beringea affords us the opportunity to pursue.”