Asabys, BPI France, Ysios in €30m series-A for Ona Therapeutics

The company intends to use the fresh financing to complete the pre-clinical development of its lead candidate drug and start its clinical trials in patients with metastatic cancer by 2023.

Following the deal, Asabys partner Clara Campàs, Alta Life partner Jose Mesa, BPI France principal Jean-François Morin, Fund+ partner Alexandra Tolia and Ysios Capital managing partner Joël Jean-Mairet will join the company's board of directors.

Healthcare-focused venture capital firm Asabys is backed by Spanish bank Banc Sabadell as anchor investor, while Alantra controls a minority stake in the firm. Asabys deployed capital from Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments, which was launched in 2019 with an €80m target and has raised €65m so far. The fund invests in healthcare companies developing highly innovative and disruptive technologies across three verticals: medical technology, digital therapeutics and biotechnology.

Altamar Private Equity's Alta Life drew capital from its debut fund, Alta Life Sciences Spain 1, which targets companies at all stages of development from seed financing to market growth, operating in the biotech, diagnostics, genomics and digital health sectors.

BPI France invested in Ona through its InnoBio 2 fund, which held a first close on €135m. The vehicle provides financing to biotech and life sciences startups primarily based in France, but also across the rest of Europe, close to or in early clinical development, with the aim of bringing them to clinical proof of concept.

Fund+ is a Belgian venture capital firm with €200m in assets under management that invests in innovative European life sciences companies developing drugs, medical devices and diagnostics.

Spanish biotechnology-dedicated venture capital firm Ysios invested in Ona via its third fund, Ysios BioFund III, which has a final target of €200m and has raised €155m so far. The vehicle provides financing to early- and mid-stage life sciences companies that develop disruptive therapeutic products and technologies to address medical needs.

Previous funding
Ona Therapeutics raised €1.5m in seed funding from Asabys in May 2019.

Company
Founded in 2019 in Barcelona as a spin-out from Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and the IRB Institute for Research, Ona specialises in the discovery and development of therapies to treat multiple types of metastatic cancer.

Its research focuses on metastasis-initiating cells and lipid metabolism. It demonstrates that the survival of metastatic cells is linked to the intake of certain saturated fats and by blocking this intake the cell's metastatic potential can be significantly reduced.

People
Asabys Partners - Josep Lluís Sanfeliu (founding partner).
Alta Life Sciences – Jose Mesa (partner).
BPI France - Jean-François Morin (principal).
Fund+ - Alexandra Tolia (partner).
Ysios Capital - Joël Jean-Mairet (managing partner).
Ona Therapeutics - Valerie Vanhooren (CEO, co-founder); Salvador Aznar-Benitah (co-founder).

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Southern Europe
• Healthcare
• Venture
• Spain
• BPI France