Exicure completes reverse merger, closes $20M in financing

SKOKIE — Exicure Inc. has closed a $20 million private placement financing and completed a reverse merger with Max-1 Acquisition Corp.

Following the reverse merger transaction, Max-1 changed its name to Exicure Inc. and will continue the business of Exicure.

The company said current investors, including AbbVie Ventures, the investment arm of AbbVie; Microsoft founder and former CEO Bill Gates; Eric Lefkofsky, chairman and co-founder of Groupon, Craig Mundie, previous chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft; the Rathmann Family Foundation; Patrick G. Ryan, founder and retired CEO of Aon and chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Group; and David Walt, co-founder of Illumina and a company director, have invested alongside new investors led by Mark Tompkins and Katalyst Securities. Net proceeds from the transaction will be used primarily for research, preclinical and clinical development and for general and working capital purposes.

Exicure is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new class of immunomodulatory and gene silencing drugs against validated targets.

Exicure's 3-dimensional, spherical nucleic acid architecture seeks to unlock the potential of nucleic acid therapeutics in multiple organs. Exicure's lead programs address diseases from inflammatory disorders to oncology.