Rotterdam (The Netherlands) / Diepenbeek (Belgium) – September 8, 2010 - Dutch biotech company Arcarios B.V. announces successful completion of a seed-financing round. An international syndicate of investors has funded the company to further develop its lead programs in the field of osteoarthritis and bone diseases.
Recently Arcarios announced the first closing of a seed-financing round, today Arcarios is happy to announce that LRM joins the existing international investor syndicate to bring the total funds raised to 4.1 mln EUR. LRM provides risk capital and infrastructural solutions to local and international ventures that invest in the province of Belgian Limburg. Nico Vandervelpen, Head of Life Sciences at LRM comments: “We are excited to participate in this financing round. Combining its strong management with its unique technology platforms, we expect Arcarios to establish an innovative product pipeline for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases.” The existing investors include BioGeneration Ventures, the lead investor of this seed-financing round, Tigenix, NV, Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund, Gemma Frisius Fund K.U.Leuven, Baekeland Fund, VINNOF, CD3 Leuven and Credit Agricole Private Equity. Tolleiv Trimborn, CEO Arcarios comments: "We are delighted that LRM joins this financing round. Our R&D facilities will be located in the BioVille incubator in Diepenbeek, which makes the support of a strong local investor even more attractive. LRM has a balanced life sciences team adding additional knowledge and expertise to our team. Together we can grow Arcarios into a successful life sciences company.”
Arcarios was recently established through a merger of Therosteon B.V. and a spin-off from Tigenix NV (Euronext: TIG). The Company focuses on the development of novel disease-modifying therapeutics in the field of bone and joint diseases. Its products are aimed at actively restoring bone or joint defects and address a clear unmet medical need. The Company has two early pre-clinical programs, a small molecule that will be developed for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The Company’s second program is a therapeutic protein, which will be developed to treat specific bone diseases. In addition Arcarios has two high-content screening platforms: ChondroBOOST and OsteoBLAST that focus on the discovery of new drug-targets in the field of joint and bone diseases respectively. Arcarios is headquartered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and has research facilities in Rotterdam and Diepenbeek (Belgium).
For more information, please contact
Tolleiv Trimborn
Chief Executive Officer, Arcarios
T: +31 620 543 382
t.trimborn@arcarios.com
Nico Vandervelpen
Head of Life Sciences, LRM
T: +32 11 24 68 85
n.vandervelpen@lrm.be
About LRM
LRM is a profit-driven investor that offers entrepreneurs a unique combination of venture capital and real estate. LRM's activities contribute to the economic development and the general employment in Belgian Limburg. LRM is oriented towards all sectors and companies, from start-ups over growing SMEs to large enterprises. Today, LRM is active in five domains: ICT & Media, Life Sciences, Cleantech & Energy, SMEs & Large enterprises.
www.lrm.be/lifesciences
About BioGeneration Ventures
BioGeneration Ventures invests in seed and early stage Dutch Life Sciences companies. The team of BioGeneration is specialized in creating value from novel and innovative technologies and the management of start-up companies. BioGeneration Ventures was co-founded by the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI), NWO, the holding of the University of Leiden, and ABN-AMRO. BioGeneration Ventures closely cooperates with Forbion Capital Partners.
www.biogenerationventures.com
About Baekeland
The Baekeland Funds are the investment funds of Ghent University and its partners in the Ghent University Association. In collaboration with a number of financial partners, these funds were established for the purpose of investing in growing, innovative companies that are commercializing technology developed either within or in collaboration with the Ghent University Association.
www.baekelandfonds.be
About Crédit Agricole Private Equity
Crédit Agricole Private Equity is an AMF-accredited asset-management subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, specialising in direct private-equity investment in non-listed companies. As multi-specialist player, Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s team of 95 professionals manages €3 billion. The 12-strong venture capital team manages €470 million through FCPIs invested in young companies with high growth potential in 2 sectors: information technology and life sciences. Crédit Agricole Private Equity has signed up to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). www.ca-privateequity.com
About the Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund
The Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund is an independent venture capital fund focusing on early stage companies and (university) spin-outs in the biotechnology and biomedical field with a presence in the Rotterdam region. The fund targets companies that are developing commercially promising products and technologies in life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology and other high technology opportunities that offer venture capital returns. More information about the fund is available on www.erasmusmcfund.nl
About Gemma Frisius Fund
The Gemma Frisius Fund K.U.Leuven (GFF) is a seed capital fund, established in 1997 as a joint venture between K.U.Leuven, the KBC Group and the BNP Paribas Group. Its objective is to stimulate the creation and growth of K.U.Leuven association related spin-off companies, by providing seed & growth capital in very early phases of research-based spin-off companies. Since 1997, GFF has invested in 36 K.U.Leuven spin-off companies. More information about the fund is available on http://lrd.kuleuven.be/en/spinoff/gff-information
About the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3)
The Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) is a multidisciplinary centre and investment fund created by K.U.Leuven R&D as a technology transfer platform in the field of drug discovery and target validation. CD3 focuses on the discovery of new and innovative small molecule drugs in collaboration with academic research groups or small (spin-off) companies and this by delivering financial means in combination with expert drug discovery support. The centre has been established by the K.U.Leuven in a partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF).
About Tigenix
Based in Leuven, Belgium, TiGenix NV (NYSE Euronext Brussels: TIG) is a public biomedical company that focuses on ‘Regenerating Motion’. The company is exploiting the power of Regenerative Medicine to develop durable treatments, validated through controlled clinical trials, for damaged and diseased skeletal tissues. TiGenix now has two products approved for marketing and sales in Europe: ChondroCelect®, the company’s lead product for cartilage regeneration in the knee and ChondroMimeticTM, an off-the-shelf, collagen based implant for the treatment of small osteochondral (cartilage and underlying bone) defects. The company exploits a proprietary (stem) cell and biomaterials platform, which will continue to generate candidate products that address specific musculoskeletal problems.
www.tigenix.com
About VINNOF
Vinnof (Vlaams Innovatiefonds - Flemish Innovation Fund) provides seed capital for young, innovative companies and start-ups based in Flanders. Vinnof is a 100% subsidiary of Participatie Maatschappij Vlaanderen NV, the investment company for Flanders. More information about VINNOF is available on www.vinnof.be
About Therosteon
Therosteon was founded in 2008, as a spin-out of the Erasmus University Medical Center by Professor Hans van Leeuwen, Marco Eijken and Tolleiv Trimborn. The company was co-founded by the Erasmus Biomedical Fund and supported by NGI through a pre-seed grant.