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Berlin, 15.5.2023 – Nia Health, a spin-off of Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, offers digital solutions for the treatment and support of sufferers of chronic skin conditions. Its products include digital therapeutics, such as the leading atopic dermatitis app Nia, and technologies for monitoring patients and conducting clinical trials. The start-up has now received €3.5 million in a seed funding round. The lead investor is High-Tech Gründerfonds. The other investors were adesso ventures, Ventura BioMed Investors, the fund of pharmaceutical industry expert Dr. Kurt Schwarz, and other investors.

The fresh capital will be used for expansion: It is planned to expand the market share in German-speaking countries, launch in other EU countries in the next 24 months and prepare for the US market entry.

Furthermore, the funding will be used to further develop the innovative, AI-based technology that integrates machine vision, natural language processing and teledermatology. The company’s technology is currently being used in a total of five clinical studies, including one at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin to investigate the therapy-accompanying effectiveness of the Nia App – with success: “The Nia Health solution used in the randomised, controlled study shows positive effects on the patients’ quality of life,” emphasises Prof. Dr. med. Margitta Worm, allergist and immunologist at the Charité.

“The seed funding allows us to massively expand our AI and development capabilities to best address the individual needs of patients with chronic skin conditions,” says Oliver Welter, co-founder and CTO of Nia Health. “In addition, we benefit from the cross-sector expertise of our strong consortium of investors. With Ventura BioMed Investors, we have a partner with many years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry on board, while in parallel we can draw on adesso’s expertise to scale our IT landscape.”

Nia Health’s expertise in the area of real world evidence is particularly promising for the future. In contrast to clinical trials, the data shows how therapies are actually used. Pharmaceutical companies and other providers of therapeutic services can use this data to significantly improve care. The growing importance of real world evidence is reflected in Nia Health’s figures: last year alone, the start-up more than doubled its revenue compared to 2021. Its partners include Sanofi, Pfizer, LEO Pharma as well as large statutory health insurers such as the Kaufmännische Krankenkasse KKH or AOK PLUS.

“We have been following the development of Nia Health since its establishment and have been convinced by the venture’s capital-efficient growth in recent years. In the market for real world evidence, we see massive potential – especially in dermatology, where Nia Health addresses an acute gap in care,” says Niels Sharman, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.

Andreas Jenne, CEO of Ventura BioMed Investors, adds: “The founders of Nia Health excited me from the beginning. They understood how to cooperate with insurance companies and the industry at an early stage and thus generate significant revenues.”

About Nia Health

Nia Health is a spin-off of the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The start-up develops a clinical diagnosis and therapy system for the continuous digital support of patients with chronic skin conditions. With its platform, Nia Health addresses an often highly underserved patient population and generates treatment-relevant real world evidence. With its innovative machine vision approach, Nia Health enables accurate documentation of disease and therapy progression and thus optimised treatment. The company works closely with German patient associations and leading clinicians and has already won reputable customers from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Amongst others, the Berlin-based company has developed the award-winning apps in the fields of atopic dermatitis (Nia) and psoriasis (Sorea), which were the first digital medical products of their kind to be approved worldwide. The digital medical solutions from Nia Health provide daily support for thousands of patients and their families.

ORLANDO, Florida, April 14th 2023 – At the AACR Annual Meeting 2023, PreOmics GmbH announces the launch of a BeatBox-based FFPE workflow, which simplifies, speeds up and standardizes FFPE sample preparation for deep, unbiased tissue proteomics by subsequent protein digestion and nanoLC-MS/MS analysis. The novel BeatBox workflow eliminates the need for xylene-based deparaffinization and enables fast and robust processing of up to 96 samples in parallel for discovery research, as well as for reproducible larger cohort translational and preclinical research and validation.

The BeatBox™ tissue homogenizer and cell lyser is a compact, affordable, and stand-alone benchtop system for convenient, semi-automated sample homogenization of various tissue types and cells. With flexible input amounts from 1-50 mg, it consistently delivers reproducible results for LC-MS-based proteomics with scalable throughput from 1-96 samples. Already successful for fresh tissue and cell-line proteomics, with the novel FFPE protocol the BeatBox can now efficiently process FFPE samples for downstream tissue proteomics. Compared to sonication devices, the BeatBox requires no complex handling or additional water conditioning. FFPE or fresh frozen tissue homogenization takes just 10 minutes with push-button operation.

In a benchmark study, FFPE as well as fresh frozen mouse cardiac muscle, kidney, and liver tissue (provided by the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna and the Histology Facility at Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities) was processed using the novel BeatBox FFPE workflow, as well as with a sonication approach. Peptides were analyzed on a timsTOF-HT mass spectrometer (Bruker Daltonics) in DIA-PASEF mode using a 30-minute nLC gradient. The BeatBox-based FFPE workflow was shown to increase the proteomic depth for FFPE, as well as for fresh frozen tissue on average by 14% to 43%, depending on tissue type. Typical Coefficients of Variation (CV) within replicates were below 10%, emphasizing the high repeatability of the homogenization process with the compact BeatBox instrument. Furthermore, the novel approach saves up to 4 hours of time in comparison to the sonication workflow, enabling parallelized high-throughput processing of 96 samples within one working day.

Dr. Michael Wierer, Director of the Proteomics Research Infrastructure at the University of Copenhagen, states: “We routinely analyze a large number of tissue samples at once, and to improve our efficiency, we have successfully adapted the BeatBox technology for tissue homogenization. Our latest discovery is that the BeatBox technology can efficiently homogenize paraffin-embedded tissue scrolls. This breakthrough now allows us to process large cohorts of FFPE tissue quickly, reproducibly, and with greater precision, opening up the possibility of large-scale biobank projects. By leveraging this technology, we are excited to uncover novel deep proteomics insights in the field of pathology research.”

Dr. Marcello Stein, Chief Marketing Officer of PreOmics, commented: “With our novel BeatBox-based FFPE workflow, researchers finally can simplify, speed up and standardize FFPE sample preparation without the need of xylene-based deparaffinization to fully exploit its potential for unbiased, deep proteomics. We believe this is a leap forward for the preparation and subsequent proteomic analysis of large sample cohorts.”

Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR) and PreOmics have a commercial agreement, enabling Bruker to offer the BeatBox-based tissue workflows for sale with Bruker’s timsTOF Pro mass spectrometer.

Since the introduction of CGM more than 20 years ago, people with diabetes have searched for a more convenient solution to manage their disease. At RSP Systems, we are developing the world’s first non-invasive glucose monitor. We have recently entered into a collaboration with a global leader within the field of VCSEL laser technology, Trumpf Photonics, in order to further miniaturize our technology, ultimately into a wearable form factor.

Together, we are effectively working towards integrating our highly advanced non-invasive glucose monitoring technology with customized VCSEL lasers from Trumpf Photonics, and packaging this into a wearable. Trumpf Photonics’ expert knowledge on VCSEL lasers and their impressive miniaturizing laser technology, combined with RSP Systems’ knowledge within the field of non-invasive glucose monitoring, builds a solid foundation for a strong and meaningful collaboration for the future benefit of people with diabetes, worldwide.

The collaboration between RSP Systems and Trumpf Photonics is an idea fit that will lead to the first-ever clinically relevant wearable non-invasive glucose sensor – brining us one step closer to solving the impeding global health crisis.

More news from RSP Systems

Munich, 6. October 2022 – Biotech startup IRUBIS, has raised EUR 2.8m in a seed financing round. The round was led by High -Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Verve Ventures and Ventura BioMed Investors with the participation of EIC Fund, the Initiative for Industrial Innovators and a number of business angels from the biotech industry or Munich startup scene. IRUBIS was founded in September 2017 by Lorenz Sykora, Alexander Geißler and Anja Müller with the goal to automate the process development and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical drugs. IRUBIS innovative process analytical technology (PAT) . Monipa, is based on mid infrared spectroscopy. The real-time monitoring system has been developed in close partnership with biopharma companies. The plug -and- play system simplifies the prediction of metabolites and nutrients in cell cultivations and protein quantity and quality parameters in purification. Process monitoring and control enables higher yield, better quality and shortens the overall process development. Co -Founder of IRUBIS Anja Müller says: “This seed financing round boosts our mission of making spectroscopy the state of the art in real -time process monitoring. The fresh capital enables us to scale, grow our team, increase sales and introduce the next Monipa version to the market.” “Sensitive and robust measurements without the need for additional time – consuming calibration are a long-sought necessity for the production of biopharmaceutical drugs. IRUBIS fills this need with their innovative and reliable Monipa technology. Together with our co -investors we are excited to the scale-up happening in the next year,” says Dr. Laura Pedroza, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.

About IRUBIS

IRUBIS GmbH (irubis.com) is a Munich -based startup founded by Anja Müller, Alexander Geißler and Lorenz Sykora-Mirle in 2017. IRUBIS has developed Monipa to bring biological drugs faster to the market. This process analytical technology improves process development and manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Monipa is a mid -infrared spectrometer system that enables real-time monitoring and control of important parameters in bioprocessing. It’s single-use interface and the simplifying calibration model, revolutionizes the bioprocess industry. Monipa is already in use by key opinion leaders in the biopharma industry.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds

High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high -potential, tech-driven start-ups. With around EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge more than 670 start-ups since 2005. With the start of HTGF IV, more than EUR 400 million in fund volume will be added in the fall of 2022. To date, external investors have injected more than EUR 4 billion into the HTGF portfolio via more than 1,900 follow -on financing rounds. HTGF has also successfully sold interests in more than 160 companies. Fund Investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer -Gesellschaft and many companies from a wide range of industries. www.htgf.de/en

About Verve Ventures

Verve Ventures is a network and technology-driven venture capital firm based in Switzerland. Founded in 2010 by Steffen Wagner and Lukas Weber, Verve Ventures has grown to 50 team members and has become one of the most active venture investors in Europe with around 150 science and technology – driven startups in its portfolio.

About the Ventura BioMed Investors

Ventura BioMed Investors invests in early-stage life science companies developing pioneering technologies and innovative therapies. As serial entrepreneurs with many years of experience, we help shape the long-term development of our portfolio companies and provide them access to our broad investor and business network. Ventura supports exceptional entrepreneurs with their vision to accelerate medical breakthroughs that solve unmet patient needs. (www.ventura-biomed.com)

About the EIC Fund

Established in June 2020, the European Innova tion Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between €500.000 and €15 million) in European high impact and deep tech start -ups and scale ups. With a long-term perspective, the EIC Fund invests in companies from any sector, across all EU member states as well as in associated countries. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialization of disruptive technologies. This is achieved by crowding -in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co -investments and follow-on funding. The Fund pays particular att ention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.

About Initiative for Industrial Innovators

The Initiative for Industrial Innovators is a cross -border financing initiative that funds disruptive, deep-tech teams and early-stage startups via fast funding instruments. It is backed by – amongst others – the European Investment Fund/ InnovFinEquity, 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 fi nance for startups and other SMEs

Schönefeld/Berlin, 26. September 2022 – Kupando, a pioneering biopharmaceutical company developing TLR 4/7 agonists that stimulate innate immunity for use in oncology and infectious diseases, announces today the closing of its Series A funding round which raised €13 million.

The funds will be used to complete IND-enabling work and to initiate the clinical development of Kupando’s lead candidate KUP101 in a solid tumor indication. KUP101 is the only TLR 4/7 agonist in development, and consists of two small molecules, a TLR 4 agonist and a TLR 7 agonist, co-encapsulated in a liposomal formulation. The compounds induce a broad immune response, which will facilitate their development as an anti-tumor agent, as a stand-alone product, in combination with other anti-tumor modalities, or a prophylactic vaccine for infectious diseases. The induction of cross-reactive antibodies and a broad cellular response are promising features for a broad portfolio of indications, in particular where different strains and antigens play a role like influenza, HPV and others. A high target specificity in the absence of relevant off-targets are indicators for a promising safety profile.

The investment was led by Remiges Ventures and co-led by Life Care Partners with an additional investment by Brandenburg Kapital, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Ventura Biomed Investors and undisclosed family offices.

Kazuhiko Nonomura, PhD Principal at Remiges Ventures, the lead investor said: “We are impressed by the tremendous progress made by Kupando since its inception. Kupando is a real pioneer in the development of a novel innate immunity stimulator, and we look forward to working with the team and supporting the advancement of KUP101 into clinical development.”

Pierre Morgon, PharmD, LL.M, MBA, Chairman at Kupando commented: “We are welcoming all our new investors of this round. We thank them for their trust in this truly disruptive approach which has the potential to provide new therapeutic and prophylactic options in the fields of oncology and infectious diseases. We believe that the highly experienced management team will enable the company to progress through this next stage of development.”

Johanna Holldack, CEO at Kupando added: “Having new investors choosing to fund us is a great validation of our company strategy and pioneering approach, and we look forward to advancing our lead candidate towards clinical development thanks to their support. It is really exciting to now have the opportunity to develop compounds that can make a difference in the treatment of solid tumors and prevention of infectious diseases in terms of efficacy, safety and affordability.

The Kupando Board comprises of Pierre Morgon, PharmD, LL.M, MBA, as Chairman and Wolfram Nothaft, MD, as Deputy Chairman, and of three Board members: Kazuhiko Nonomura, PhD (representing Remiges Ventures), Gerhard Ries, PhD (representing LifeCare Partners) and Thomas Krause (representing Brandenburg Kapital).

Munich, Germany, 25 July 2022 – NEOsphere Biotechnologies GmbH today announced the completion of a Series A financing round to further expand its proteomics platform that screens extensive small-molecule libraries for degraders of pathogenic proteins previously considered undruggable.

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) aims to eliminate rather than inhibit disease-causing proteins. Unlike traditional small-molecule drugs that only inhibit targets, degradation-inducing molecules deplete their targets and do not require active binding sites to exert their effect. Thus, entities like molecular glues, heterobifunctional degraders known as proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs), monovalent degraders, and deubiquitinase inhibitors can potentially target the large part of the human proteome that lacks active binding sites and is thus inaccessible to small-molecule inhibitors. This novel therapeutic mechanism makes protein degraders promising therapeutic agents for indications of high medical need unmet by conventional medicines.

Although protein degraders have the potential to become blockbuster drugs in many therapeutic areas including cancer and neurology, their discovery has been largely serendipitous. Thus, the target reach and selectivity of many TPD compounds is largely unknown. NEOsphere Biotechnologies fills that gap. NEOsphere Biotechnologies offers its strategic partners in-depth screening of compound libraries of any size against the full human proteome to initiate and advance drug discovery of degrader molecules.

NEOsphere Biotechnologies combines data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) with custom-built data interpretation to deliver high-throughput proteomic analysis with superior sensitivity, precision, and data completeness. The platform is fast and highly scalable to align with drug development cycles. It screens thousands of degrader compounds against more than 10,000 proteins. Once identified, candidates are validated as novel degrader targets using powerful technologies such as high-throughput interactomics or ubiquitination analysis to an unparalleled depth of 50,000 sites.

Prof. Henrik Daub, scientific founder and Chief Scientific Officer of NEOsphere Biotechnologies comments: “To exploit the full potential of TPD, proteome-wide analysis should ideally accompany any degrader molecule, from initial characterization at the screening stage to final drug candidate nomination. Our platform allows for deep proteomic screening compatible with both early target discovery and advanced compound optimization, granting unprecedented access to the previously undruggable target space. Working with our partners, we aim to connect their innovative degrader chemistries with the whole proteome. Thus, we create novel drug discovery opportunities at scale and enable our partners to build broad and robust pipelines of first-in-class therapeutics.”

About NEOsphere Biotechnologies

NEOsphere Biotechnologies is a pioneering proteomics company that creates value in strategic partnerships looking to systematically discover and develop therapeutic degrader targets that cannot be accessed by traditional small molecule approaches. Located in Munich’s biotech hub, the company uses cutting-edge mass spectrometry technology to screen libraries of tens of thousands of compounds against proteomes of more than 10,000 proteins. Purpose-built data processing systematically extracts high-probability candidates that are validated as novel degrader targets via mechanistic methods like ubiquitination analysis at an unprecedented depth of 50,000 sites. NEOsphere Biotechnologies’ integrated target discovery system connects innovative degrader chemistries to the previously untreatable proteome, revealing new entry points for drug development that generate broad pipelines of first-in-class therapeutics.

Munich, Germany, April 11, 2022 – SciRhom GmbH announced today that it has nominated the anti-iRhom2 antibody it will advance into clinical development. For this antibody, the company has closed an agreement with a top-tier biopharmaceutical manufacturer for the CMC development. This first-in-class drug candidate has demonstrated outstanding preclinical efficacy in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Having completed the comprehensive characterization of the molecule, SciRhom will now enter into IND-enabling activities.

“We are very pleased with the latest progress we have made towards bringing this promising therapeutic concept closer to the clinic,” says Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jens Ruhe. “Our research and development team did a fantastic job in delivering this excellent molecule. The nominated antibody fulfills all attributes for a successful pharmaceutical development. We expect our clinical candidate to outperform standard of care medications and become an attractive treatment option for patients suffering from debilitating diseases.” SciRhom’s drug candidate inhibits the cell surface-localized protein iRhom2, a critical regulator of the protease TACE (TNF-alpha-converting enzyme, ADAM17). By interfering with this complex, the anti-iRhom2 antibody allows the simultaneous blockade of several pro-inflammatory signaling pathways without impairing protective functions. The therapeutic relevance of SciRhom’s antibody may also extend beyond autoimmunity, as research evidence suggests potential benefits of iRhom2 inhibition for multiple therapeutic areas including inflammation, oncology, infectious and metabolic diseases.

About SciRhom GmbH

SciRhom GmbH, based in IZB Martinsried, Germany, is a biotech company that translates science into the preclinical and early clinical development of novel biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of life-threatening autoimmune diseases. Based on longstanding academic research conducted at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and a well-established network of experts, SciRhom was founded in 2016 through a collaboration between
academic and industry scientists with profound experience in antibody development. Since then, the company has developed first-in-class anti-iRhom2 antibodies and nominated a candidate for clinical studies. Four comprehensive patent families cover the company’s anti-iRhom2 antibodies and iRhom2-target epitopes, securing exclusivity and protection against me-too drugs. To date, SciRhom has successfully acquired seed funding from the High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF), Hospital for Special Surgery, and other institutional and private investors.

More on SciRhom

Düsseldorf, Germany, October 14, 2021 – Abalos Therapeutics announced today an extension to its Series A funding round bringing the total raised in this round to EUR 43 million (USD 50 million). The extension was led by Seventure Partners with support from Coparion, Ventura BioMed Investors and Hx Bio Ventures as well as contributions from existing investors from the initial Series A round including Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Gründerfonds Ruhr, NRW.BANK and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The financing underscores the potential of Abalos’ differentiated immuno-virotherapy approach to generate a maximal immune response specifically targeted against a patient’s cancer and its metastases. The proceeds will enable the company to advance its first product candidate into a Phase 1/2 trial in multiple solid tumors including the expansion cohorts to demonstrate early signs of clinical efficacy as well as fund further pipeline expansion. “Since the closing of our initial Series A financing round, we have achieved significant progress in the development of our product candidates and built a leadership team of drug development and immuno-oncology experts that support our goal of bringing this unique therapeutic modality to cancer patients,” said Dr. Marcus Kostka, CEO of Abalos Therapeutics. “We value this commitment from our new and current investors that will enable our lead arenavirus-based program to enter clinical evaluation with the goal of establishing clinical proof of concept.” “Abalos is developing a powerful new class of immuno-virotherapeutics to treat cancer. Their product candidates have the potential to treat a range of solid cancers and also to increase the effect of approved immuno-oncology drugs,” said Annegret de Baey, Venture Partner at Seventure Partners. “We are very excited to see such a distinct approach in the crowded immuno-oncology space and look forward to supporting the Abalos leadership team as they continue on the journey of developing a pipeline of candidates that could greatly improve the immune system’s ability to identify hard-to-treat tumors and elicit a long-term anti-tumor immune response,” added Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner at Seventure. Abalos was launched in October 2019 to advance a technology platform that harnesses the unique features of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which specifically targets tumor cells. Through its proprietary Fast Evolution Platform, Abalos is generating variants with optimized anti-tumoral properties to trigger a highly precise and directed immune response that can be utilized for distant metastases and enable long-term disease control. In conjunction with the closing of the Series A financing round extension, Annegret de Baey from Seventure Partners and Sebastian Pünzeler from Coparion will join Abalos’ Supervisory Board.

About Abalos

Abalos Therapeutics has harnessed the unique immune stimulation of the arenavirus to develop a novel anti-cancer approach that provides the full breadth of the immune system’s power specifically against cancer cells. Through viral replication within cancer cells, Abalos’ arenavirus-based drug candidates are designed to awake precise innate and adaptive immune responses and activate all relevant immune cell types against primary tumors and metastases. Led by experienced biotech entrepreneurs and immunology pioneers, Abalos’ goal is to achieve a quantum leap in immuno-oncology. For more information, please visit www.abalos-tx.com.

About Seventure Partners

With €850m net commitments under management as of the end of 2020, Seventure is a leading venture capital firm in Europe. Investing since 1997 from seed to pre-IPO stages, in innovative businesses with high growth potential in two fields: Life sciences across Europe, Israel, Asia and North America and Digital technologies in Europe. In Life sciences, the main areas of focus include “classic” approaches such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, diagnostic and medtech, industrial biotechnology, as well as “beyond the pill” approaches such as MICROBIOME-linked innovations, nutrition, foodtech, digital/connected health, wellbeing and personalized medicine & personalized nutrition. Health for Life Capital™ funds attracted strategic investments from prestigious organizations including Danone, Novartis, two US- based global food ingredient providers, Lesaffre, Tornier, Tereos, Unigrains and Bel, as well as financial institutions, family offices and entrepreneurs. For more details: www.seventure.fr/en Twitter: @seventurep

About Coparion

Coparion provides venture capital to accelerate momentum and growth. With a current active fund of EUR 275m coparion has the means to do so. coparion supports entrepreneurial vision with know-how, but without intervening in daily business operations. Thanks to in-depth experience in venture capital and in building companies, the coparion team discerns potentials and opens up new perspectives. coparion only invests with co-investors. The fund invests up to EUR 15m per company, usually in several financing rounds of EUR 1-8m each. Investment focus is on German companies in the start-up and early growth phase. coparion is based in Cologne and Berlin. www.coparion.vc

About Ventura BioMed Investors

Ventura BioMed Investors invests in early-stage life science companies developing pioneering technologies and innovative therapies. As serial entrepreneurs with many years of experience, we help shape the long-term development of our portfolio companies and provide them access to our broad investor and business network. Ventura supports exceptional entrepreneurs with their vision to accelerate medical breakthroughs that solve unmet patient needs. www.ventura-biomed.com

About Hx Bio Ventures

Hx Bio Ventures invests into early stage companies developing next generation biologics. It is Hx’s mission to help exceptional entrepreneurs building the next generation of great biotech companies. With a clear focus on & know how in drug development and their manufacturability, Hx Bio intends to partner with innovative biotech companies looking to derisk their development processes early on. Hx Bio Ventures is part of family-owned Droege Group, based in Düsseldorf, Germany.

About Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund

Created in 2010, the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH (BIVF) invests in
groundbreaking therapeutics-focused biotechnology companies to drive innovation in
biomedical research. BIVF is searching for significant enhancements in patient care through
pioneering science and its clinical translation by building long-term relationships with scientists
and entrepreneurs. BIVF’s focus is to target unprecedented therapeutic concepts addressing
high medical needs in immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine, infectious diseases and
digital health. For more information, visit www.boehringer-ingelheim-venture.com.

About Gründerfonds Ruhr

Gründerfonds Ruhr is a private venture capital fund driving innovation in the Ruhr area by investing in new technologies covering a broad range of industries. The fund provides capital, business expertise and industry access to leading international corporations who share a common goal of building Ruhr-based start-ups with transforming ideas. With the objective of being the institutional investor of choice Gründerfonds Ruhr aims to support young companies to enter their next stage of development and commercial success. More information on www.gruenderfonds-ruhr.com.

About NRW Bank

NRW.BANK is the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia. Its mission is to support its owner – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – in the completion of its structural and economic policy tasks. In its three fields of promotion “Economic Development”, “Housing Promotion” and “Infrastructure/Municipal Promotion”, NRW.BANK uses a wide range of promotion tools – from low-interest promotion loans to equity finance to advisory services. It cooperates with all banks and savings banks based in NRW on a competition-neutral basis. NRW.BANK takes into account the existing offers by the Federal Government, the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Union in the arrangement of its promotion. For more information visit nrwbank.com and follow us www.twitter.com/NRWBANK.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)

High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With around EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge more than 600 start-ups since 2005. Driven by their expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion, its team of experienced investment managers and startup experts help guide the development of young companies. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial technology, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected more than EUR 3 billion into the HTGF portfolio via more than 1,800 follow-on financing rounds. HTGF has also successfully sold interests in more than 140 companies. Fund Investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and 32 companies.