Vesalius et al. invest €20m in Promethera
Vesalius Biocapital Partners has taken part in a €20.33m series-C funding round for Promethera Biosciences, a Belgian biotech specialising in the treatment of liver disease.
The round saw two new investors: Belgian federal holding and investment company SFPI-FPIM and SMS Investments, the Luxembourg subsidiary of German machinery construction group SMS Group.
The round was led by two of Promethera's existing investors, Luxembourg-based venture capital firm Vesalius and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the venture arm of German pharmaceutical group Boehringer Ingelheim.
They were joined by several other existing backers: Société Régionale d'Investissement de Wallonie (SRIW); UK pharma Shire; US filtration and purification company Pall-ATMI LifeSciences; the Vives-Louvain Technology Transfer Office Fund; Mitsui Global Investment, the venture capital arm of Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui; and several business angels.
The equity injection has been supported by a €5m loan and subsidy package from the Walloon region, bringing the total amount raised by the company in its series-C to €25.33m.
Previous funding
Promethera's series-A round took place in November 2009 and was led by Vesalius. A large syndicate of investors took part in the round, comprising Capital & Croissance, SRIW, Life Sciences Research Partners, NivelInvest, Vives, Sopartec and LRM, a Limburg-focused investor.
In March 2012, the company raised a further €17m in capital alongside a €6.6m loan supplied by the Walloon region in its series-B. The round's equity investors comprised Sambrinvest, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mitsui, Shire and ATMI, the latter of which was recently acquired by Pall LifeSciences.
Company
Founded in 2009 as a spinout from Université Catholique de Louvain and headquartered in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Promethera is a biotech developing cell therapy products for the treatment of liver disease.
The company has developed HepaStem, a cell therapy product that uses allogeneic stem cells isolated from human livers and is designed to treat liver diseases such as fulminant hepatitis and liver fibrosis in adults, as well as rare inborn metabolic diseases that mainly affect children.
Promethera is also developing H2Screen and H3Screen, which are non-therapeutic in-vitro products designed to carry out early preclinical pharmaco-toxicological evaluation of drug candidates.
The company employs 44 staff.
People
Eric Halioua is the CEO of Promethera. Alain Parthoens is a partner at Vesalius.
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