- V-Bio Ventures leads international syndicate which includes
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., QBIC Fund, Flanders
Future Tech Fund, Curie Capital as well as seed investors Oncode
Oncology Bridge Fund, Swanbridge and BOM
- Flindr discovers and develops precision oncology
therapeutics with the potential to eradicate tumors in specific
patient populations
- Lead asset is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of
the cancer driver RNF31
OSS, Netherlands, April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flindr
Therapeutics B.V. ("Flindr" or "the Company"), a precision oncology
therapeutics company, today announces a €20 million Series A
financing to advance its pipeline of first-in-class, small molecule
inhibitors for treatment of cancer. V-Bio Ventures led the
financing alongside other new investors Johnson & Johnson
Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), QBIC Fund, Flanders Future Tech
Fund and Curie Capital, as well as existing investors Oncode
Oncology Bridge Fund, Swanbridge and Brabantse Ontwikkelings
Maatschappij (BOM).
Flindr combines world class science and expertise in
translational biology, cancer target identification,
immuno-oncology and small molecule oncology drug development. The
expert team has a successful track record in the identification and
development of covalent small molecules inhibitors from discovery
to market approval.
The Company utilizes the "ImmunoGram Drug Discovery Engine",
which has evolved from seminal work in the laboratories of the
Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and the Oncode Institute. This
approach involves reverse-translating the heterogeneity in
tumor-specific and host-specific factors, as commonly seen in
patients in the clinic, into lab-based biological models to screen
for and select the most important drug targets involved in patient
clinical response.
Flindr's lead program is a first-in-class small molecule
inhibitor of RNF31 (also known as HOIP), a protein-stabilizing E3
ubiquitin ligase which is aberrantly activated in solid and
hematological malignancies. The Company has already obtained highly
promising activity for the drug candidate in preclinical ovarian
cancer and B-cell lymphoma models, and identified biomarkers which
will help select patients most likely to respond to treatment with
RNF31 inhibitors. Flindr will use the funds to progress its lead
program to IND, develop an exciting second program, and broaden its
pipeline using the ImmunoGram Drug Discovery Engine.
Flindr Therapeutics was created in 2020, with Maarten Ligtenberg as the founding CEO, and
initial seed financing from BOM, Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund,
Swanbridge Capital and Innovatiefonds Noord Holland. In 2023,
Flindr joined forces with VIB, Flanders' leading life sciences
research institute, and the lab of Professor Rudi Beyaert (of the VIB-UGent Center for
Inflammation Research), to leverage their deep expertise of
immunology - including RNF31 biology - and development of animal
cancer models. Their work with Flindr in these areas will provide
further validation of RNF31 as a target and will enable the Company
to make safety predictions.
Maarten Ligtenberg, PhD, Chief
Executive Officer and Founder at Flindr, said: "This €20
million Series A financing will help us translate our precision
targets into precision therapies, with the ultimate goal of
potentially transforming the lives of patients with cancer. The
backing of this highly regarded investor syndicate is a strong
validation of our unique approach and the potential of our
pipeline."
Christina Takke, Managing Partner at V-Bio
Ventures, commented: "We strongly believe that
a complementary team is crucial for any success. The Flindr
team combines well-established identification expertise from the
NKI with world class biological insights from VIB, and its deep
experience and successful track record in the identification and
development of covalent small molecules inhibitors."
Following financing, the Flindr Supervisory Board of Directors
will include Christina Takke, V-Bio Ventures, Chris De Jonghe, Oncode Institute, Tine Bekaert, Flanders Future Tech Fund,
Cedric van Nevel, QBIC Fund and
Allard Kaptein, CEO of Genase
Therapeutics and Chief Strategy Officer of IMMIOS, as well as a
representative of JJDC.
About Flindr Therapeutics
Flindr Therapeutics, based in Oss in the Netherlands, is a private pre-clinical
biotech company developing next-generation precision oncology
treatments. The Company, previously called Immagene, was spun out
of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and Oncode Institute in
2020, by founders Prof Daniel
Peeper, Prof Christian Blank
and Dr Maarten Ligtenberg. Flindr is
actively building a pipeline of highly promising, first-in-class
precision oncology therapies identified through the ImmunoGram Drug
Discovery Engine. It is backed by V-Bio Ventures, Johnson &
Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., QBIC Fund, Flanders Future Tech
Fund, Curie Capital, Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund, Swanbridge,
Innovatiefonds Noord Holland, and BOM. Flindr has entered into a
research collaboration with the NKI, and the VIB (Flanders
Institute of Biotechnology).
About V-Bio Ventures
V-Bio Ventures (www.v-bio.ventures) is an independent venture
capital firm specialized in financing and supporting innovative
life sciences companies. V-Bio Ventures was founded in 2015 and
works closely with Belgium-based
VIB, one of the world's leading research institutes in the life
sciences. The fund invests across Europe in high growth potential start-ups and
young companies targeting transformational innovations in the
biotech, pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors.
About QBIC Fund
Qbic is a sector-agnostic seed and early-stage venture capital
fund, focusing on creating impact through the transformation of
technological breakthroughs into sustainable business. The fund's
goal is to support young innovative companies that valorize
research from Qbic's knowledge partners. The fund typically
participates in the first external investment round of a company
and continues to support and invest in these companies throughout
their growth. Across 3 funds, Qbic has close to €200M in AUM.
About Flanders Future Tech Fund
The Flanders Future Tech Fund is an early-stage funding fund,
managed by the Flemish investment company PMV, that aims to respond
to the funding needs of early technology initiatives by research
centers, universities and Flemish spearhead clusters, as well as
private parties. With its investments, the Flanders Future Tech
Fund aims to focus on the valorisation of technology developed by
Flemish companies, with a particular focus on the spearhead domains
of Care and Welfare, Digital Transformation and Climate &
Sustainability. The Flanders Future Tech Fund has a fund size of
75 million euros and can enter into
financings of 0.5 to 5 million
euros.
About Curie Capital
Curie Capital (www.curiecapital.nl) is a life science focused
venture capital firm founded in 2018. Curie Capital is based in
Amsterdam and invests in Seed
and Series A stage biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical
technology companies with talented teams. We support portfolio
companies with our broad experiences in various areas and access to
our extensive network. The founding partners Mariette van der Velden and Han de Groot both have extensive experience in
investing, entrepreneurship and managing companies across the full
life cycle from startup to exit.
About VIB
VIB's core mission is to generate disruptive insights in the
molecular underpinning of life and to translate these actively into
impactful innovations for patients and society. VIB is an
independent research institute where some 1,800 top scientists from
Belgium and abroad conduct
pioneering basic research. Based on a close partnership with five
Flemish universities and supported by a solid funding program, VIB
unites the expertise of all its collaborators and research groups
in a single institute. VIB's technology transfer activities
translate research results into concrete benefits for society such
as new diagnostics and therapies and agricultural innovations.
These applications are often developed by young start-ups from VIB
or through collaborations with other companies.
About Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund
Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund is focused on providing first seed
financing to start-up companies in the field of oncology, that are
either based on scientific findings originating from Oncode
Institute or that are founded by Oncode Investigators. The fund was
established in 2018, operates with Shobhit
Dhawan as dedicated fund manager and has built a growing
portfolio of promising oncology ventures.
About Swanbridge Capital
Swanbridge Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund that
is focused on (pre-)seed investments in the life sciences industry.
The fund invests in the development of novel therapies, diagnostics
and medical devices. Swanbridge Capital was founded in 2016 and is
based in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands.
About Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM)
Entrepreneurship is the driver of innovation. From sustainable
food sources to a healthy future, climate-neutral energy, and
developing promising key technologies – the Brabant Development
Agency (BOM) ensures that startups playing a role in these fields
get off to a flying start and grow into scaleups, that the right
facilities are always available to Brabant-based companies, and
that companies that aspire to go global can actually do so. Every
year BOM works with dozens of companies to create this impact. BOM
is an executive body of the Province of Brabant and the Ministry of
Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. BOM. Catalyzing Change.
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