Sofinnova et al. in €72.8m series-C round for Merus

New investors Sofinnova, headquartered in the US, and Novo Ventures, the venture arm of Denmark's Novo pharmaceutical company, led the funding round. Both invest in companies in the life sciences sector.

Although neither of their contributions to Merus were revealed, Novo typically writes cheques in the $5-30m region.

Also backing Merus for the first time were VC firms RA Capital Healthcare Fund, Rock Springs Capital, Tekla Capital Management and a further US life sciences-focused investor whose identity remains confidential.

In addition, the €72.8m series-C featured capital from Merus's earlier backers such as Novartis Venture Fund, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Pfizer Venture Investments, Bay City Capital, Life Sciences Partners and Aglaia Oncology Fund. Aglaia was the first to back Merus in its series-A in February 2006.

According to Merus, the funds will be used to drive its research programmes and develop its existing therapy pipeline. Having taken its first bispecific antibody MCLA-128 into phase-I and phase-II clinical trials, the biotech is now looking to initiate tests for its leukemia-focused successor MCLA-117 in Q1 2016.

The €72.8m ($80.5m) funding round is the third largest in Benelux tracked by unquote" so far in 2015. First in the ranking is Luxembourg online retailer Global Fashion Group, which secured €150m in June from Kinnevik and Rocket Internet, among others. 

The second largest round featured Dutch online auction site Catawiki, which received $82m during a series-C led by US VC Lead Edge Capital in late July.

Previous funding
Merus first received institutional capital in February 2006, when Dutch VC Aglaia deployed €300,000 via its Aglaia Oncology Fund.

In January 2010, Aglaia used the same vehicle to support the €21.7m series-B for the biotech alongside entering investors Novartis, Pfizer, Bay City and Life Sciences Partners.

All the aforementioned backers joined forces with new investor Johnson & Johnson when the series-B was extended with a further €31m in October 2013. Put together, the round represented €47.6m in capital for Merus.

Company
Founded in 2006, Merus develops immunotherapies targeting oncological and haematological illnesses. The company uses screening technologies and bispecific antibodies such as MCLA-128 and MCLA-117 to fight both solid tumours and other conditions like leukemia. With a workforce of 30 professionals, the business is headquartered in Utrecht.

People
Sofinnova was represented by general partner Anand Mehra, while Novo's work on the deal was coordinated by partner Jack Nielsen. Both joined Merus's board of directors after the transaction. Ton Logtenberg is CEO at Merus.

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• Topics
• Benelux
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• Netherlands
• Sofinnova
• unq2015oct