Ariana raises venture funds for decision tool
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Ariana Pharma has raised its first round of venture financing, €1.5 million from Vizille Capital Innovation. VCI will take a minority stake in the decision tool developer alongside existing shareholders, Institut Pasteur and company management. Ariana, which has been mainly self-funding until now, has established a growing software business through collaboration and licensing agreements with pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Lundbeck. Its lead product is KEM (Knowledge Extraction and Management), a data mining tool. The new funding will be used to strengthen the company's sales and marketing infrastructure, and for further development work to add functionality to KEM that will enhance its use in clinical trials and drug safety domains. Ariana was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Paris, France.