Delivery play Rani tops off series C

Rani Therapeutics LLC (San Jose, Calif.) raised more than $20 million in the second close of a series C round, bringing the round's total to more than $50 million. New investors AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN), Virtus Inspire Ventures and Ping An Ventures joined existing investors GV, InCube Ventures and VentureHealth in the round.

Rani is developing a pH-activated capsule for oral delivery of peptides and antibodies. The capsule uses sugar needles to inject large molecule therapeutics into the muscle of the intestine (see BioCentury, June 29, 2015). ...