Date: 2015-03-24
Type of information: Series A financing round
Company: Rigontec (Germany)
Investors: Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (Germany) Wellington Partners (UK) NRW Bank (Germany) High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) (Germany) Forbion Capital Partners (The Netherlands) Sunstone Capital (Denmark)
Amount: €14.25 million
Funding type: series A financing round
Planned used: Rigontec was launched in January 2014 as a spin-out of the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Bonn, Germany. Rigontec is developing synthetic ligands of a novel receptor of the innate immune system, Retinoic acid Inducible Gene I (RIG-I), which recognizes viral RNA. RNA motifs that activate RIG-I promote the destruction of diseased cells and the induction of a lasting immune memory thereby treating and preventing recurrence of disease. The Company’s co-founders, Prof. Gunther Hartmann and Prof. Veit Hornung, are internationally highly renowned scientific leaders in the area of innate immune recognition of viral nucleic acids (RNA immunesensing) and discovered 3pRNA (5’triphosphate RNA) as the ligand for RIG-I. Rigontec\'s lead compound RGT100, a proprietary first-in-class product targeting RIG-I, is currently being evaluated for development in several cancer types including melanoma and prostate cancer. The proceeds of the Series A financing round will be used to progress Rigontec’s lead drug candidate into clinical proof-of-concept studies, and to expand Rigontec’s pipeline based on its proprietary RNA-sensing technology.
Others: * On March 24, 2015, Rigontec, a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing RNA-based immunotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer and viral diseases, announced it has raised €4.8 million in a second closing of its Series A financing round from Forbion Capital Partners, a Dutch life-sciences venture capital firm, and Sunstone Capital, a Copenhagen based venture capital investor. The new investment brings the total Series A to €14.25 million and adds two further highly experienced investors to Rigontec’s investor base alongside Wellington Partners, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, NRW.BANK and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). Holger Reithinger from Forbion Capital Partners and Sten Verland from Sunstone Capital have joined Rigontec’s Board of Directors. * On October 14, 2014, Rigontec,announced the first closing of its Series A financing round, raising €9.45 million. The round was co-led by Wellington Partners and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and included NRW Bank and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). Rigontec was launched in January 2014 as a spin-out of the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Bonn, Germany. The Company\'s co-founders, Prof. Gunther Hartmann and Prof. Veit Hornung, are internationally highly renowned scientific leaders in the area of innate immune recognition of viral nucleic acids (RNA sensing) and discovered 3pRNA as the ligand for RIG-I. The Company has access to the excellent infrastructure of the University Hospital Bonn, which includes state-of-the art pre-clinical research facilities and a clinical trial unit. The founding management team is led by Annegret de Baey-Diepolder, an experienced investor and start-up manager, and Christine Schuberth-Wagner, who is in charge of the scientific developments at Rigontec. Prof. Hartmann and Prof. Hornung will stay closely involved with the company as advisors, and Prof. Hartmann will represent the founders on the Board of Directors. On the closing of this funding round, Regina Hodits from Wellington Partners and Marcus Kostka from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund will join the Rigontec Board of Directors.
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology - Infectious diseases
