VentureBeat

Featured companies: Ablynx, Avant Immunotherapeutics, BioForm Medical, Celldex Therapeutics, Genomas, High-Throughput Genomics, Orchid Cellmark, ReliaGene Technologies, SarCode, TransMolecular, VisEn Medical

UPDATED: Expanded items on SarCode, Celldex/Avant and Ablynx.
UPDATE REDUX: Added items on BioForm Medical, High-Throughput Genomics and Orchid Cellmark/ReliaGene.

San Francisco’s SarCode draws down $7M for inflammation drugs — The two-year-old startup drew down $7 million as part of a $25 million first funding round the company arranged last December, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Investors in that round included Alta Partners and Clarus Ventures. The company’s post-investment valuation was $30 million in December.

SarCode is focused on developing new treatments for inflammation using technology it licensed from Sunesis Pharmaceuticals in January. The company can still draw another $13 million from its first round, and anticipates that existing funding will carry it through the end of 2009.

Cosmetic-surgery product maker BioForm sets IPO range, aims for $127M — San Mateo, Calif.-based BioForm Medical, a developer of skin fillers and other cosmetic-procedure products, set its sights on an IPO that could raise up to $126.5 million. BioForm now aims to sell as many as 11.5 million shares at a price of $9 to $11 apiece. Should it come in at the high end of that range, the offering would value the company at almost $500 million.

See our previous coverage of BioForm, which sometimes touts itself as more of a medical-device company than one focused on “medical aesthetics,” in the first item here. The company’s main customers are plastic surgeons and dermatologists.

Celldex goes public with $67M Avant acquisition — Privately held Celldex Therapeutics acquired a majority stake in publicly traded Avant Immunotherapeutics for $66.7 million in stock. The release is here.

The deal effectively takes Celldex public via a form of reverse merger. Although the combined company will be known as Avant, Celldex shareholders will own 58 percent of it. Avant’s current CEO, Una Ryan, will remain in that position in the combined company, which will be worth an estimated $115 million following the merger. The new Avant will pursue a number of immune-related treatments for cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disease.

High-Throughput Genomics raises $10M for gene-expression tools — Tuscon’s High-Throughput Genomics, a biotech focused on tools that measure gene activity, raised $10 million in a third funding round. Investors included Merck Capital Ventures, Solstice Capital, Valley Ventures and Arcturus Capital.

HTS, founded a decade ago as a subsidiary of a combinatorial-chemistry company called Systems Integration Drug Discovery Company, spun out as an independent company in 2001. The company provides tools that let researchers study the activity of genes and proteins in laboratory samples.

Ablynx aims at €99.2 million IPO for “mini-antibodies” from llama DNA — Belgium’s Ablynx, a biotech focused on developing new therapies using miniature antibody molecules derived from llama DNA, said it hopes to raise as much as €99.2 million ($141.5 million) in an IPO. (Its release is here.)

The offering will be launched on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels. You can find our previous coverage of the company here and here.

OTHER HEADLINES OF NOTE:

• DNA-testing co. Orchid Cellmark acquires ReliaGene Technologies for $8.6M (release)
• VisEn Medical raises $7.5M for imaging (PE Hub)
• Genomas pulls in $2.5M for “DNA-guided medicine” (PE Hub)
• TransMolecular names Nicholas Nicolaides chairman (release)

updated
The Generations Network, operator of Ancestry.com has just received $300 million from Spectrum Equity Investors, a Silicon Valley buyout firm, which will take a majority stake in the company.

Ancestry.com has also just launched DNA testing of its 5 billion records, so that family members can resolve mysteries about their ancestors, i.e., find out for sure who they are and are not related to. This is smart, because it exploits peoples’ keen interest in their own histories. By charging people up to $200 for the privilege, it hopes to make the sort of money that will justify Spectrum’s investment. It comes at a time when a number of other companies are offering sophisticated DNA services, including Silicon Valley’s 23andMe.

We’d heard Provo, Utah-based Generations had been shopping itself around for some time, but Spectrum had already been a minority investor since 2003.

Ancestry.com lets people create family trees, submit family photos and stories and allows them browse their collections. The deal comes as Ancestry is facing competition from fast-growing family tree companies such as Geni, which boasts hip Ajax-filled interactive technology. Another is MyHeritage. See our coverage of Geni and Generations Network here.

Generations operates a number of other sites too, including myfamily.com, Rootsweb.com, Genealogy.com, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Magazine. It reportedly makes $150 million in revenue a year.

Ancestry.com’s DNA service combines DNA testing with Ancestry.com’s collection of 5 billion names in historical records. The company says it has 15 million users, and lets them take a cheek-swab test and compare DNA test results in its database, so that they can “prove (or disprove) family legends, discover living relatives they never knew existed.”

It offers Y-DNA and mtDNA tests — ranging in price from $149 to $199. The Y-DNA test analyzes the DNA in the Y chromosome, which is passed virtually unchanged from father to son. Women can have their father or other related male take the test. The mtDNA test analyzes DNA in an individual’s mitochondrial DNA, which passes from a mother to her children. The company says test results can provide better estimates of an ancient ancestors’ origins and “migration route from Africa and can aid in identifying living cousins.”

It said DNA results will soon integrate with online Ancestry.com family trees, so that users with similar last names can see how they are related, or not related.

Update: More from David Hamilton about this trend.

Update II: Other reports, including from VentureWire, say the company had previously raised $95 million in venture funding since 1998. The company’s four largest shareholders are now Spectrum, Sorenson Media, CMGI@Ventures and EsNet Group, according to the company.

[Disclosure: To my surprise, I've seen Ancestry.com running ads on VentureBeat this morning, including ads running along this story. This was arranged by our advertising partner, Federated Media, without our knowledge. That's fine (indeed, the purpose of having FM involved to arrange such deals, and why not make it targeted), but just wanted to let you guys know that there was no connection between editorial coverage and advertising!]