Sofinnova invests €1.65m in PinCell

Following the deal, Gabriella Camboni was appointed as CEO and Luigi Costa as chair of PinCell, while Sofinnova partner Paola Pozzi joined the company's board.

The GP deployed capital from Sofinnova Telethon Fund, which recently held a final close on €108m. Sofinnova Telethon Fund was launched by Sofinnova and ITATech, a joint venture between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Italian state-backed Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).

The vehicle is led by technology transfer specialists Lucia Faccio and Paola Pozzi, partners at Sofinnova who are based in the firm's Milan office.

Sofinnova Telethon Fund targets early-stage investments in Italian biotech companies developing cures for rare genetic diseases. It plans to build a portfolio of 15 companies by investing smaller tickets in seed rounds at first, followed by larger injections to support the companies' expansion plans. It can invest up to 10% of the fund per company.

The vehicle has recently invested €16m in a series-A round for Milan-based gene therapy company Genespire and has backed Epsilen Bio, which is developing a technology to turn off genes linked to specific pathologies without irreversibly modifying the DNA.

Company
Founded in 2008 as a spinout from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, PinCell is a biotechnology company targeting a novel pathological pathway to develop first-in-class anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of rare, severe skin diseases with high unmet medical need.

People
Sofinnova Partners – Graziano Seghezzi (managing partner); Paola Pozzi (partner).
PinCell – Carlo Pincelli, Alessandra Marconi (co-founders).

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Southern Europe
• Healthcare
• Sofinnova Partners
• Italy
• Venture