AstriVax Raises €30M in Seed Funding 

Hanne Callewaert, PhD - portrait by Philippe Swiggers
Hanne Callewaert, PhD – portrait by Philippe Swiggers

AstriVax, a Leuven, Belgium-based KU Leuven spin-off that develops vaccines, raised €30m in seed funding.

The round was led by V-Bio Ventures and Fund+. The other investors are Flanders Future TechFund, Thuja Capital, Ackermans & van Haaren, Mérieux Equity Partners (via OMX Europe Venture Fund), BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity, and the KU Leuven Gemma Frisius Fund.  

The company intends to use the funds to bring their first thermostable yellow fever vaccine to the clinical development stage and to further develop their pipeline vaccine candidates – one to prevent rabies and one to treat chronic hepatitis B. 

Led by Hanne Callewaert, PhD, CEO, AstriVax will draw on technology developed at the KU Leuven Rega Institute to develop novel vaccines that are easy to produce, have reduced cold chain requirements, and offer broad and long-lasting protection against various viruses and other pathogens. 

The company will also continue to build its plug-and-play vaccine platform based on the work of co-founders Professor Johan Neyts and Kai Dallmeier, PhD, from the KU Leuven Rega Institute. The technology of AstriVax can be used to develop a wide range of vaccines to prevent and treat infectious diseases.

The company will be headquartered at the BioHub in Haasrode (Leuven), Belgium. 

FinSMEs

25/08/2022