Consortium invests CHF 12.5m in Alentis

Katharine Hidalgo
30 April 2019

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BioMedPartners and BB Pureos Bioventures have co-led a CHF 12.5m series-A for biotechnology company Alentis Therapeutics.

BPI France, Schroder Adveq and High-Tech Gründerfonds also participated in the funding round.

Switzerland-based BioMedPartners is currently investing from its BioMedInvest III vehicle that closed on CHF 100m in March 2018. The fund will invest in 12-16 drug development companies. BB Pureos Bioventures is a venture fund advised by Bellevue. The fund was launched in 2017 and focuses on emerging healthcare companies.

Markus Ewert, who was previously chief business officer at Ablynx and assisted with its IPO, has joined the company as CEO. Following the funding round, Alentis's board of directors comprises Alentis co-founder and chairman Neil Goldsmith, BioMedPartners general partner Andreas Wallnöfer, BB Pureos Bioventures managing partner Martin Münchbach, BPI France senior investment manager Benoit Barteau and Alentis founder Thomas Baumert.

Alentis will continue to develop drugs with research from the University of Strasbourg and the University of Texas Southwestern.

Alentis is a BaseLaunch portfolio company, a healthcare accelerator operated by BaselArea.swiss. BaseLaunch has provided early-stage financial and operational support to the company.

Satt Conectus has also assisted in the foundation of Alentis. The Alsace-based investment fund offers up to €500,000 per project.

Company
Alentis discovers and develops medications to treat advanced liver diseases such as liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Established in March 2019, the company is headquartered in Basel with a subsidiary in Strasbourg and a branch in Germany.

People
BioMedPartners – Andreas Wallnöfer (general partner).
BB Pureos Bioventures – Martin Münchbach (managing partner).
BPI France – Benoit Barteau (senior investment manager).
Alentis Therapeutics – Thomas Baumert (founder); Neil Goldsmith (co-founder, chairman); Markus Ewert (CEO).