Meusinvest, Spinventure in €4m round for PDC Line Pharma

Alice Tchernookova
06 December 2016

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Belgian VC Meusinvest and Spinventure have contributed to a €4m series-A round for biotechnology company PDC Line Pharma, specialised in cancer immunotherapy technology.

The round was led by Meusinvest and institutional investor Financière Spin-off Luxembourgeoise, managed by Investsud Group. According to a source close to the deal, other investors in the round included family offices, which provided around half of the capital.

The round featured €2.6m of equity, and €1.4m in bank loans, EU funding and investment from Belgian and French regional funds Walloon Region, Wallonia Biotech Coaching and Auvergne-Rhône Alpes Initiative.

Entrepreneur Eric Halioua will join the company (led by COO Laurent Levy and CSO Joel Plumas) as CEO and president of the board of directors. Halioua will also be in charge of PDC Line Pharma's fundraising efforts.

Halioua told unquote" PDC Line Pharma will be looking for extra funding of between €13-20m in the coming years, in order to further fund clinical testing.

The current round of funding is intended to finance the company's next 12-18 months of activity, allowing its cancer immunotherapy technology to reach the clinical proof of concept phase. This clinical trial is nearing completion, the company said, with results expected in Q2 2017. PDC Line Pharma will also finalise the industrialisation of its process and investigate the potential applications of its technology.

Other objectives include team expansion, with plans to double up the group's workforce and reach 18 people by the end of 2017.

Previous funding
According to a company statement, PDC Line Pharma has benefited from the support of several partners, including BPI France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alps Initiative, EFS (French Blood Bank), the European commission, the French ministry of research, and various incubators. However, the series-A is the first formal round of institutional funding the company has raised.

Company
PDC Line Pharma was founded in 2014 in Grenoble as a spinout from the French Blood Bank (EFS).

The clinical-stage biotech company develops antigen-specific active immunotherapies for cancer based on a plasmacytoid dendritic cell (PDC) line.

People
Meusinvest Group – Marc Foidart (deputy CEO).
PDC Line Pharma – Eric Houlia (CEO).