GlycoEra raises 45 million Swiss francs

The biopharmaceutical start-up GlycoEra AG has raised a total of 45 million Swiss francs as part of a Series A financing round, as detailed in a press release. GlycoEra is headquartered at the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zurich. The company was spun-off from LimmaTech Biologics AG, also based in Schlieren in the canton of Zurich, back in January of this year and specializes in the glyco-engineering of novel biologics. The term glyco-engineering, which can be understood as a kind of molecular engineering artistry, refers to processes via which the aim is to improve the therapeutic benefit of specifically modified antibodies.

According to the press release, the US and European life sciences investors 5AM Ventures, the Roche Venture Fund and Sofinnova Partners all took part in the start-up’s financing round, while LimmaTech Biologics AG was also involved. The gross proceeds are to be used to support the company’s growth plans and further development of its CustomGlycan platform technology.

In connection with this financing round, Mira Chaurushiya from 5AM Ventures, Monique Schiersing from the Roche Venture Fund and Graziano Seghezzi from Sofinnova Partners will all be joining the company’s Board of Directors, the press release states. Up to this point, the Board of Directors had comprised co-founders Veronica Gambillara Fonck and Amir Faridmoayer, in addition to the biotech advisor and strategist Ganesh Kaundinya.

“The size and interest for this round and the international investor syndicate we have garnered are a significant validation of the potential of GlycoEra’s CustomGlycan platform”, Fonck explains in the press release.

Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, also commented that his firm has “enormous confidence in GlycoEra’s potential to carry its groundbreaking technology forward into multiple therapeutic areas”.