eTheRNA, a Niel, Belgium-based mRNA technologies company, raised €39M in a Series B2 financing.
The round was led by Novalis LifeSciences with participation from Professor Kenneth Chien, an expert in mRNA technology and its therapeutic applications, as well as existing investors LSP (now EQT Life Sciences), PMV, Grand Pharma, Fund+, Omega Fund, and others.
Concurrent with this investment round, the two new investors Dr. Kenneth Chien, co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics and professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and Dr. Marijn Dekkers, founder and chairman of Novalis LifeSciences LLC and former CEO of Bayer AG and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., will join the company’s board of directors. In addition, eTheRNA announced the departure of its CEO, Steven Powell, and the appointment of current COO, Bernard Sagaert, as interim-CEO.
The company intends to use the funds to expand investment in its integrated mRNA technology platform and further pursue its new initiatives for a partnership-driven business strategy.
Founded in 2013, eTheRNA has established an integrated set of proprietary capabilities for an end-to-end solution to design, develop and manufacture next-generation mRNA products based on enabling technologies. Its new business model will utilize this suite of capabilities to provide superior products for partners in both early-stage research as well as later-stage development for mRNA therapeutics. eTheRNA will leverage its proprietary molecular designs, lipid biochemistry expertise, customized lipid nanoparticle formulations (cLNPs), mRNA-based T cell adjuvants, and advanced manufacturing processes to overcome the current challenges facing the development of mRNA therapeutics. By expanding its expertise in designing, synthesizing, and manufacturing cLNPs with a spectrum of properties suitable for a range of prophylactic and therapeutic indications, this business model will allow the company to accelerate near-term revenue growth through technology licensing and mRNA cGMP manufacturing services for multiple future partners.
FinSMEs
27/08/2022