i&i Bio invests $1M in Celeris Therapeutics company using AI to develop drugs

“We are thrilled to accompany such a promising biotech startup with its R&D facility in central Europe on its way to becoming a world leader. It is exciting to be part of the development of cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to help treat the most serious diseases,” says Karel Kubias, Partner at i&i Biotech Fund and former CEO of the Czech subsidiary of Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany. Additionally, i&i Bio has secured a seat on the board of directors of CelerisTx, allowing the Fund to directly support the company’s development and extend its connections with pharmaceutical partners.

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Thanks to this investment, i&i Bio has become a part of a breathtaking journey to develop cutting-edge technologies. In this case, we are talking about computerized methods of designing degrader drugs (proximity-inducing compounds, PICs™) for currently undruggable pathogenic proteins related to Parkinson’s, various types of cancers, and other diseases. PICs™ remove the pathogenic proteins by activating the cellular degradation mechanisms.

The seed financing round was co-led by i&i Bio (Luxembourg), Pace Ventures Enigma (Germany), and Apex Ventures (Austria). The total amount invested reached $4.4 million. The financing follows on from the company’s pre-seed round from March 2021. The existing investors R42 Group from Silicon Valley and Longevitytech.fund a.s. accompanied the lead investors with follow-up investments.

Support of acceleration of R&D and business development 

“The additional funding will be used to build our laboratory site in Graz, Austria, and further fuel our three in-house drug programs around neurology and oncology. This means a substantial acceleration on a global scale of our platform,” says Jakob Hohenberger, CFO/COO, and Co-Founder of CelerisTx. “The investment from institutional globally acting venture capital firms is a great acknowledgment and will support acceleration of both R&D as well as business development to collaborate with big pharma and big biotech on precious new medicines,” adds his colleague Christopher Trummer, the CEO and Co-Founder of CelerisTx.  

CelerisTx is already collaborating with multiple well-recognized pharmaceutical companies. Just a few days ago, on 9 February 2022, the company announced another significant milestone – the beginning of a cooperation with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. 

About i&i Bio i&i Bio is a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm investing in innovative European life sciences companies specializing in drug discoveries, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. The fund, created through a collaboration between the biotech incubator i&i Prague and the European Investment Fund (EIF), manages over €53 million and aims to invest in approximately 20 early-stage companies. Led by a team with extensive experience in private equity, healthcare, and venture capital, i&i Bio supports entrepreneurs in achieving global success. The fund’s main sponsor, i&i Prague, plays a crucial role in advancing transformative Central European technology companies

The Fund is supported by an investment from the European Investment Fund (EIF), with the support of:

• lnnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing; and

• the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), implemented by the EIF with the financial support of the Participating Member States. The objective of EGF is to respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring that companies in the Participating Member States have sufficient short-term liquidity available to weather the crisis and are able to continue their growth and development in the medium to long-term.