- One of the largest Series A biotech venture capital financings in Germany
- Venture capital consortium led by renowned sector investors Life Sciences Partners (LSP) and LifeCare Partners (LCP)
- Immunic focuses on the development of small molecule immune modulators up to clinical proof of concept
Planegg-Martinsried, Germany, September 27, 2016 – Immunic AG (Immunic), a recently formed private start-up biotech company in Planegg-Martinsried near Munich, Germany, today announced that it has closed its Series A financing round totaling EUR 17.5 million of preferred stock financing. The financing round was led by Life Sciences Partners V Coöperatief U.A. (LSP, The Netherlands) and LifeCare Partners (LCP, Switzerland). Further participating investors were Bayern Kapital (Landshut, Germany), High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF, Bonn, Germany) and additional private investors.
Immunic was founded in April 2016 with the purpose to advance promising drug development projects to clinical proof-of-concept. The focus of Immunic is the development of orally available, small molecule immune modulators to treat immune and autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or psoriasis.
Dr. Manfred Gröppel, Immunic’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, says: “This financing is an important validation of the Immunic team. We are excited to have convinced a renowned group of professional investors. Their commitment to provide substantial start-up financing to our venture and their expertise in shaping successful biotech companies will allow us to boost our development activities.”
Dr. Andreas Mühler, Immunic’s co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, adds: “The funds provided enable us to start developing convenient yet powerful new therapies for patients that suffer from debilitating diseases caused by the immune system.”
“There are still large unmet medical needs in the field of autoimmune and immunological diseases. This is particularly true for safe and convenient therapies that can be taken as a tablet, a dosage form preferred over intravenous administration by patients and health care systems alike”, states Dr. Jörg Neermann, partner at LSP and member of Immunic’s Supervisory Board. “We are convinced that Immunic’s experienced management team will substantially advance the therapeutic options in this field.”
“I am pleased to see the financing round being completed with the support of the Bavarian Growth Fund. Just as with other start-ups, our focus with Immunic is on creating the best possible environment for the development and implementation of innovative ideas. This is the fundamental idea behind the Growth Fund. Innovation is the seed of products and enterprises, creating the jobs of tomorrow. This benefits businesses and people in the entire region,” commented Ilse Aigner, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs. “I very much look forward to seeing Immunic’s clinical development programs advance and wish its team great success.”
– Press release ends –
Further information
About Immunic
Immunic AG is a start-up biotech company founded in April 2016 and focused on the development of orally available, small molecule immune modulators to block immune and autoimmune responses. Immunic develops drug candidates until clinical proof of concept. Immunic, with headquarters in Planegg-Martinsried near Munich, Germany, is privately held and supported by several renowned sector investors.
Dr. Manfred Gröppel, info@immunic.de, +49 89 7007630
About Life Sciences Partners (LSP)
LSP is a leading independent European investment firm, providing financing for private and public life-science companies. Since the late 1980s, LSP’s management has invested in a large number of highly innovative enterprises, many of which have grown to become leaders of the global life-science industry. With over EUR 1 billion of investment capital raised to date and offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP is one of Europe’s largest and most experienced specialist life-science investors.
About LifeCare Partners (LCP)
LifeCare Partners is an independent investment firm providing financing to private and public life science companies. LifeCare Partners targets the entire life science industry with special focus on medical technology, diagnostics, biopharmaceuticals, food & nutrition, industrial biotechnology, biomaterials, e-health and bioenergy. Based in Basel, the LifeCare Partners team has successfully invested in more than 35 life science companies over the last years, of which a large number have already been listed on the stock exchange or have been acquired by leading players in the life science industry.
About Bayern Kapital
Bayern Kapital is based in Landshut and was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank. As the venture capital organization of Germany’s State of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria. Presently Bayern Kapital manages ten investment funds with a total volume of around EUR 340 million. So far, it has invested almost EUR 227 million in 245 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology. This way, almost 5,000 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.
Dr. Reinhard Saller, +49 89 200030-30, bayernkapital@wuelfing-kommunikation.de
About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
Dr. Lena Krzyzak, +49 228 823001-00, l.krzyzak@htgf.de
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