arGEN-X BV, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of human antibodies using its proprietary SIMPLE Antibody(TM) platform, today announced the successful second closing of its Series A equity financing round. The Company raised an additional EUR 3.0 million (~USD 4.5 million) from two leading life science investors, Credit Agricole Private Equity and VIB (the prestigious Flemish research institute).
arGEN-X has raised a total of EUR 12.5million (~USD 18.7 million) from its completed Series A equity financing round, which was heavily oversubscribed.
Philippe Guinot, a senior partner at Credit Agricole Private Equity, joined the arGEN-X Supervisory Board.
The Series A round was co-led by Forbion Capital Partners (The Netherlands) and LSP (Life Sciences Partners - The Netherlands). Other members of the syndicate, which invested in the first closing of EUR 9.5 million, were KBC Private Equity (Belgium), BioGeneration Ventures (The Netherlands) and existing shareholders Erasmus MC Biomedical Fund and Thuja Capital Healthcare Funds.
arGEN-X will use the proceeds to further develop the Company's proprietary, unencumbered SIMPLE Antibody(TM) engine and to continue to build a proprietary pre-clinical antibody product portfolio. arGEN-X's SIMPLE Antibody(TM) platform yields monoclonal antibodies which combine an unparalleled functional diversity against human disease targets with best in class human germline homology. arGEN-X's SIMPLE Antibodies(TM) are generated in vivo, starting from active immunization, and exhibit ultra high starting affinities and potencies without the need for further engineering.
The arGEN-X platform has the potential to rapidly create exciting product candidates both against novel therapeutic targets and against targets where standard antibody approaches fail to generate an optimal lead diversity.
Philippe Guinot, PhD, Senior Partner at Credit Agricole Private Equity commented: "We believe that arGEN-X has a truly innovative technology and a management team with an impressive track record of building a valuable business in the antibody area. It is no surprise to us that the Company was able to attract such a high-quality syndicate of investors for its Series A round and Credit Agricole Private Equity is delighted to have had this opportunity to participate at this important early stage of the arGEN-X' development."
Tim Van Hauwermeiren, Chief Executive Officer of arGEN-X added: "We are very pleased to have raised this additional funding from two experienced European life science investors. In addition, we are proud to become VIB's first external investment and we view this as a real quality stamp of approval. With substantial funding now in place, arGEN-X is well positioned to execute its ambitious value-creating strategy over the next two years."
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