Biotechnology company Nimbus Discovery has appointed Daniel Lynch has been appointed to the company’s board of directors as executive chairman. Lynch will succeed Bruce Booth, D. Phil., partner at Atlas Venture and co-founder of Nimbus, who will remain on the board. Nimbus is backed by life science investors including Atlas Venture, SR One, Lilly Ventures and Gates Ventures.

San Francisco-based Sutro Biopharma has closed a $16.5 million second tranche of its Series C financing. The financing was led by Skyline Ventures and included participation of Lilly Ventures, Amgen Ventures, SV Life Sciences and Alta Partners. Sutro has raised almost $60 million since its founding in 2003. PRESS RELEASE Sutro Biopharma today announced the [...]

Cerulean Pharma, a developer of nanopharmaceuticals, has closed a $15 million Series D financing with participation from new investor, CVF, an affiliate of Henry Crown and Company of Chicago, Illinois, as well as full participation from all other existing investors, including Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock, Lilly Ventures, Lux Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Cerulean’s offices [...]

Biopharma company Nimbus Discovery has closed on a $24 million Series A round co-led by Atlas Venture, SR One, and Lilly Ventures. Existing investor, Bill Gates, also participated, the company said. Nimbus uses computational technology to discover medicines for difficult-to-drug diseases, and will use the infusion of capital to accelerate its existing development programs. The company closed on an undisclosed amount of seed financing in March.

Ron Laufer, co-founder of Lilly Ventures, has joined MedImmune Ventures as senior managing director.

FORMA Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based small molecule drug developer with an initial focus on cancer, has raised $25.5 million in Series B funding. Lilly Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers Novartis Option Fund and Bio*One Capital. The company previously raised $25 million.

Lilly Ventures has spun out from drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co., in order to offer its employees more competitive compensation packages, according to VentureWire. As part of the deal, Lilly Ventures secured a new $200 million capital commitment from its former parent company. www.lillyventures.com

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of molecular imaging products, completed the first closing of a $34.5 million Series D financing led by Alta Partners. Existing investors AllianceBernstein, Safeguard Scientifics, Pfizer Venture Investments, Lilly Ventures, RK Ventures Group, LLC and BioAdvance. Press release: Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of molecular imaging products, today [...]

Hydra Biosciences, a Cambridge, Mas.-based developer of novel ion channel drugs, raised $22 million in Series D financing led by MedImmune Ventures. Prior investors contributing follow-on commitments include Advanced Technology Ventures, Abingworth, Polaris, BioVenture Investors, Biogen-Idec Ventures, and Lilly Ventures in the Series D round. Hydra Biosciences has raised $47 million in previous rounds of [...]

Intradigm Corp., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of RNAi therapeutics, has raised $18.5 million in Series B funding. Lilly Ventures led the round, and was joined by Roche Venture Fund, MP Healthcare Venture Management and return backers Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Alta Partners, MediBic Alliance Technology Fund and Novartis Venture Fund.