News
T-CURX announces $20M Series A first closing led by BiomedVC to fund pipeline of clinical-stage CAR-T programs and advance proprietary non-viral in vivo CAR-T platform
T-CURX GmbH (T-CURX) today announces the first closing of a $ 20M (€ 17.7M) Series A financing with a syndicate of European and Asian investors for accelerating clinical development of T-CURX non-viral clinical CAR-T therapies in AML and solid tumor indications, as well as advancing T-CURX proprietary non-viral technologies for in vivo CAR-T generation.
Captain T Cell closes financing round to advance its proprietary, next-generation TCR-T pipeline into the clinic
Available funding totaling EUR 20 million dedicated to developing novel solid tumor treatments addressing a high unmet medical need. Springboard Health Angels, Pluton Asset Holding AG, Sintra Limited, and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen joined as new investors. Existing investors i&i Biotech Fund I SCSp, HIL-INVENT and Brandenburg Kapital also participated in the round.
HeartBeat.bio joins forces with Boehringer Ingelheim to advance gene therapies for inherited heart muscle disorders
HeartBeat.bio has entered into a research collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop gene therapy-based treatments for genetic cardiomyopathies. The partnership combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s expertise in gene therapy drug development with HeartBeat.bio’s proprietary Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform, aiming to advance innovative therapies for inherited heart muscle diseases.
KyDo Therapeutics announces €4.4M seed financing to advance its covalent-allosteric inhibitor platform to address highly unmet medical needs in oncology
KyDo secures €4.45 million seed funding to develop a covalent-allosteric drug discovery platform and to advance its frontrunner inhibitors towards IND-enabling studies. The financing round is led by I&I Bio, with a significant investment from KHAN-II, and investments from VORNvc and TU capital. KyDo’s lead program consists of novel covalent-allosteric inhibitors with potential to become first-in-class oncology drugs.
iQure Pharma secures $4M funding advancing phase 1 clinical trial for iQ-007
iQure, a company focused on the development of novel therapies based on Polish research for neurological conditions, has completed its latest round of funding. The company has raised $4M to progress with a Phase 1 clinical trial for its lead asset iQ-007, a novel therapeutic candidate to treat epilepsy and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Antiverse raises $4.6M to advance generative AI antibody design platform
Antiverse, a techbio company designing antibodies for challenging targets, today announced it has added £3.5M ($4.6M) to its seed funding. The investment will facilitate the Company’s growth, including appointments to strengthen the team and continued development of its antibody design programmes, many in partnership with pharmaceutical companies.
UK’s MHRA authorizes Vasa to initiate first-in-human clinical trial of VS-041
Vasa, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies for cardiovascular and metabolic aging, yesterday announced that the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted clinical trial authorization (CTA) to initiate a Phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial.
CasInvent Pharma raises from i&i Biotech Fund and other investors €1.6 million to support the development of CK1 inhibitors
CasInvent Pharma, a university spin-off focused on developing anti-cancer compounds, has successfully closed the Pre-Series A funding round, raising a total of € 1.6 million from both existing and two new investors. The syndicate includes i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio), KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I (KHAN-I), i&i Prague, the Holeček Family Foundation, and BIOINVESTIMED a. s.. The financing will boost the development of innovative casein kinase 1 (CK1) inhibitors with the potential to treat conditions like acute myeloid leukaemia, pancreatic cancer, and certain types of breast cancer.
Interview: By leveraging our financial support and expertise, we can contribute to the growth and success of startups in Poland and the Baltic countries
Read the interview with Nicolas Beuzen, the new Investment Advisor at i&i Biotech Fund. In addition to other topics, the interview covers his goals and visions for joining i&i Bio, the reasons behind his decision to accept the job offer, and how specific activities like off-road motorcycling and Battodo are beneficial to his work.
Interview: Life Sciences and Artificial Intelligence? Only ten per cent of AI is used in a truly innovative way, the rest are common applications
Interview with Pavlína Koutecká, Scientific Analyst at i&i Biotech Fund. Among other topics, she discusses the opportunities presented by the use of artificial intelligence in Life Sciences, the associated risks, and why we should not fear that artificial intelligence will one day replace scientists.
IOCB Tech Group successfully represents the Czech Republic at the prestigious biotech conference BIO-Europe 2023
Over 5,000 participants from more than 50 countries and a total of over 30,000 official meetings – that was the outcome of this year's edition of the international BIO-Europe conference in Munich. The Czech Republic was represented by the companies IOCB Tech, i&i Prague, and i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio), which are entities associated with the IOCB Tech Group under the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The Czech stand at the event was also supported by representatives of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Munich.
HeartBeat.bio raises €4.5M in pre-series A financing to drive development of organoid screening platform for cardiac drug discovery
New funds committed to market-ready development of HeartBeat.bio’s unique 3D human tissue-based Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform for heart disease. Organoid cultivation, screening and data analysis platform combines organoid technology, automated hardware solutions and AI-based software suitable for primary drug screening and clinical trials-in-a-dish. Investor syndicate includes: i&i Biotech Fund; Invest AG; aws Gründungsfonds II; and Tensor Ventures.
Česká spořitelna is the first bank in the Czech Republic to invest €5M in an academic investment fund i&i Bio focused on drug development and medical innovations
Česká spořitelna becomes the first bank in the Czech Republic to invest in an investment fund i&i Biotech Fund I (i&i Bio), which operates at the renowned Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IOCB). This fund aims to support the development of new drugs, diagnostic methods, and medical technologies. By 2026, i&i Bio plans to invest in around 20 medical and biotechnology projects with the support of Spořitelna, helping them to move from research to practice, and patients. Spořitelna is not only the first Czech bank to invest in a fund of this kind, but also one of the few European banks to enter such funds directly as investors.
Delta Life Science raises €5.25M from i&i Bio and other investors in series A funding to revolutionize biosensing technology
Dutch start-up, Delta Diagnostics (now Delta Life Science), a leader in label-free, multiplexed biosensing, announced today that it has successfully secured Series A funding of €5.25 million. The funding round was made possible by a consortium of four investors: i&i Biotech Fund, Oost NL, InnovationQuarter and PhotonDelta.
i&i Bio invests up to €340k into Czech startup Sophomer to support further technology development
Czech academic startup Sophomer has announced an investment of up to EUR 340k from i&i Biotech Fund. The funding will be used for further technology development, team expansion and new laboratory space. Sophomer s.r.o. was established at the end of 2022 as a result of a collaboration between the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry CAS, the company Elisa Development, and the bio-innovation center i&i Prague. The establishment of Sophomer represents another unique example of successful technology transfer.
The Advisory Committee of i&i Biotech Fund strengthened by renowned economist Daniel Münich
i&i Biotech Fund announces the launch of cooperation with Associate Professor Daniel Münich, who has joined the Fund's Advisory Committee. The renowned Czech economist will join the European Investment Fund's (EIF) delegate as a representative of the bio-innovation center, i&i Prague, and the innovation ecosystem around the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (IOCB), to support the further development of i&i Biotech Fund.
Experienced businessmen join forces with excellent science, invest €2M in the fund at the IOCB
Leading Czech businessmen have joined the support of the most promising scientific projects. Eight prominent entrepreneurs have contributed nearly €2 million to the i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio), an investment fund that specializes in finding and developing unique academic startups in the fields of drug development, diagnostics and medical technology. The new investors include among others Ondřej Bartoš from Credo Ventures or Jaroslav Řasa, founder of ABRA Software. With the new contribution, the total capital of the fund has risen to approximately €47 million.
i&i Biotech Fund invests more than €1M in Enzyre to help advancing pioneering diagnostic technology platform for hemophilia patients
Enzyre, a company developing a breakthrough ambulant diagnostic technology for blood coagulation testing, today announced that it has successfully raised €1M Series A funding led by new investor Oost NL, with participation from i&i Biotech Fund, Demcon Investment as technology partner and existing investors, Takeda Ventures and Novalis Biotech. The financing also includes an Innovation Credit from the Dutch Government.
Nanoligent raised €2.8 M and completed seed round financing with support of i&i Bio
Nanoligent SL, a Spanish biotech company specialized in the development of cancer treatments based on unique protein conjugates, today announces the completion of a Seed financing round of total € 2.8 M. The final closing of the Seed round consists of € 1 M investment by i&i Biotech Fund I (i&i Bio), an early-stage Life Science fund with teams in Luxemburg and Prague which is backed by the European Investment Fund. i&i Bio joined previous Nanoligent investors, Italian Angels for Growth, the largest network of business angels in Italy, and AVANTECA Partners, a Swiss privately held asset management firm.
CasInvent Pharma raises €1.3M from KHAN-I and i&i Bio to support the development of new casein kinase 1 inhibitors for the treatment of leukemias and solid tumors
CasInvent Pharma, an early-stage drug discovery company developing small-molecule compounds with anticancer properties, has raised a follow-up investment round of €1.3 million provided by KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I (KHAN-I) and i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio). With this funding, CasInvent Pharma will be strengthening its portfolio of casein kinase inhibitors and progressing its lead compound to the development candidate status.
Notes from a trip to “The most startup friendly country in the world”
At the end of April, Karel Kubias (one of the partners of i&i Biotech Fund) and Jiří Moos (CEO of i&i Prague) attended an event in Riga, Latvia, called Roche Latvia Innovations Day. Here you can read their blog where they describe their impressions from the event and, more importantly, provide further evidence that the Baltic States can serve as inspiration for the Czech Republic. At least in terms of technology transfer...
i&i Bio invests $1.5M in Sampling Human to support the development of engineered cells for single cell analysis
This year’s third i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio) investment goes to Sampling Human, an early stage Life Sciences technology company that has developed a diagnostic platform that harnesses genetically engineered cells to analyze other cells in their environment. Through synthetic biology, Sampling Human is modifying yeasts into “Living Information Technology” capable of detecting and classifying selected living cells (e.g.: cancer cells) in a sample of millions of other cells. The practical potential of this technology could transform diagnostic processes with liquid biopsy that is orders of magnitude faster, less expensive and more precise. i&i Bio’s investment will support Sampling Human’s efforts to further advance R&D, business development and preparations for their next investment round.
i&i Bio invests $1M in Celeris Therapeutics company using AI to develop drugs
i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio) has announced an investment of EUR 1 million in Celeris Therapeutics (CelerisTx), an early-stage drug discovery company using artificial intelligence to predict biomolecular interactions and generate new chemical entities. CelerisTx exploits its proprietary platform to develop new drugs in oncology and neurology. The funds will accelerate R&D activities.
New academic fund to support research startups with more than $45M
In September 2021, activities commenced at the i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio), which specializes in investments in academic spinoffs devoted to drug discovery, diagnostics, and medical devices, among other areas. The new fund was established in cooperation with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and i&i Prague, a subsidiary of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (IOCB Prague). Currently in preparation to join the fund is Charles University Innovation Prague (CUIP), a subsidiary of Charles University. This is the very first project of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe, a region that until now has lacked this type of financing opportunity.