June venture capital financings for emerging companies totaled more than $688.8m, ranging from an undisclosed round for Avitide to a $120m Series B for Rubius Therapeutics.

Moderna and Intarcia lead recent fundraisings; big pharma backing includes Novartis leading Series A for Inflazome and Pfizer for diabetes play Antolrx. Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a comprehensive monthly review of emerging biopharmaceutical companies that have received venture funding. This month’s column covers deals announced August through September 2016.

Relay launched with $57m to develop its novel technology platform for drug discovery based on protein motion with an initial focus on therapies for genetically defined cancers.

Recent executive-level hires and director appointments at venture capital firms and biopharma and medtech start-ups.