Munich Life Science Pitch Day at the IZB: Eleven teams presented to 28 life science investors with an available investment volume of more than 20 billion euros
07.10.2022
Martinsried near Munich, October 7, 2022 – On October 6, 2022, the Munich Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology (IZB) in cooperation with the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim and MEDICE organized the 7th Life Science Pitch Day, at which eleven biotech start-ups and project teams presented their innovative ideas to renowned life science investors and decision-makers from the industry. First, Dr. Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of the IZB, gave an insight into the dynamic Start-up Center IZB. Ingo Klöckner, Portfolio Strategy & Reporting by Leaps by Bayer, the VC-Unit der Bayer AG as well as Dr. Alexander Ehlgen, Investment Manager Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, explained which cooperation models exist for start-ups in their companies. Drug company MEDICE, participating in the Life Science Pitch Day for the first time, was presented by Dr. med. Dr. oec. Richard Ammer. The 11 project teams have a funding requirement of over 100 million euros. In the Faculty Club G2B at the IZB, they faced investors who have a total available investment volume of over 20 billion euros. In terms of content, it was exciting and wide-ranging. Project teams presented research ranging from small molecules to antibodies, as well as drug development against cancer and autoimmune diseases in the context of pre-seed to Seria A funding.
The participants gained valuable insight into the work of a successful start-up at the Fireside Chat with Dr. Dominik Schumacher, Founder and CEO of Tubulis and Dr. Martin Pfister, Principal at HTGF. „Data quality and depth combined with high level of expertise within the entire team at Tubulis have been key to gain trust of our partners and investors”, Schumacher explained the success of the young biotech company.
The following investors supported the event as partners: Apollo Health Ventures, Bayern Capital, BayStartUP, Born2Grow Seedfonds, Carma Fund, Forbion, Hadean Ventures, Kurma Partners, LongeVC, MediVentures, Pureos Bioventures, Redalpine, Thuja Healthcare Investors, TVM Capital, VI Partners and Wellington Partners.
“The Pitch Day was again a complete success. We are glad that the selected start-ups were also able this year to present their research projects in a relaxed atmosphere here at the IZB, in order to make initial contacts in the venture capital scene and take away valuable feedback. I would greatly like to thank our partners for their many years of support,” said Dr. Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of the IZB.
“We are always looking for progress – with our experienced partners Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, MEDICE and the IZB, we are pleased that we were able to host the Life Science Pitch Day again today and get to know new disruptive technologies, approaches that expand our experience, and promising start-ups, ” said Dr. Martin Pfister, Principal of High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).
“This year we are again enthusiastic about the strong pitches of the founders! We are convinced that we will hear a lot more from the presenting start-ups in the future,” added Dr. Laura Pedroza, Investment Manager, HTGF.
“Let’s leap into the future together!”, commented Ingo Klöckner, Portfolio Strategy & Reporting at Leaps by Bayer, the VC-Unit of Bayer AG. “In our long-standing partnership with the HTGF, we have already seen many exciting developments; among other things due to the Life Science Pitch Day. Every year, this event is an excellent opportunity for start-ups from the life sciences and chemistry sector to present their ideas to well-known venture capital companies.”
“The Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund promotes early-stage research and technology through its strategic investments. We focus especially on potential breakthrough technologies at the transition between academic research and start-ups, also in our joint investments with HTGF. The Life Science Pitchday offers us a good opportunity to learn about new technologies and exchange ideas with colleagues from the venture scene,” explained Dr. Alexander Ehlgen, Investment Manager Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
The following project teams presented their innovative research at the 7th Munich Life Science Pitch Day:
- 1X1 Biotech, Prof. Dr. Ali Ertürk: Development of targeted lipid nanoparticles to deliver drugs to the right targets.
- Adoram Therapeutics, PhD David Pejoski: Specializes in small molecule therapies with an allosteric molecular mechanism of action.
- Celeris Therapeutics, Dr. Christopher Trummer: Pioneering AI-driven development of degraders against hard-to-fight targets.
- Genome Biologics, Prof. Jaya Krishnan: Development of therapies for cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases with high unmet needs.
- Invitris, Dr. Patrick Großmann: Invitris’ mission is to use synthetic biology to catapult bacteriophage technology into the 21st century.
- Mermaid Bio, Dr. Christopher Baldwin: Mermaid combines the new generation of antibodies with advances in drug delivery to develop breakthrough endogenous drugs.
- Mosanna Therapeutics, Dr. Jonathan Talbot: Development of a drug to combat sleep apnea and Its potentially fatal metabolic consequences.
- Onena Medicines, Dr. Neethan Lobo: With its AI-driven platform, Onena is developing best-in-class biologics for cancer treatment through cellular reprogramming.
- SciRhom, Dr. Jan Poth: SciRhom’s mission is to revolutionize the treatment of autoimmune diseases so that patients benefit from a true disease-modifying effect.
- TheraPPI Bioscience, Dr. Luc Otten: Altering protein interactions to offer treatments where current therapies fail.
- Tuari Therapeutics, Dr. Dominique Doyen and Dr. Svetlana Hamm: Focuses on treating tumors with a RAS driver mutation.
Press photos for download at: https://www.izb-online.de/en/media-library/images/
16 scientists from 11 project teams:
Back row l-r: Prof. Jaya Krishnan, Genome Biologics; Phd James Vince, Mermaid Bio; Dr. Christopher Baldwin, Mermaid Bio.; Dr. Oliver von Stein, Sirana Pharma; Dr. Dominique Doyen, Tuari Therapeutics; Dr. Svetlana Hamm, Tuari Therapeutics; Prof. Dr. Ali Ertürk, 1×1 Biotech; Dr. Jan Poth, SciRhom; Dr. Christopher Trummer, Celeris Tx; PhD Hesham Mamed, Adoram.
Front row l-r.: Jonathan Talbot, PhD, Mesanna Therapeutics; Patrich Grossmann, PhD, Invitris; Neethan Lobo, PhD, Onena; Luc Otten, PhD, TheraPPI; Jonathan Ward, PhD, Genome Biologics; David Pejoski, PhD, Adoram.
Investors at Pitch Day, Oct. 6, 2022 at IZB:
Back row from left to right: Lev Osherovich, Delin Ventures; Dr. Joachim Vogt, AbbVie Germany; Tamas Schweighoffer, Forty51 Ventures; Virginia Ballotta, BaseLaunch; Dr. Laura Pedroza, HTGF; Philipp Braeuer, EQT; Dr. Tim Lohoff, Forbion; Dr. Ximing Ding, Pureos Bioventures; Dr. Arnd Kaltofen, VI Partners; Dirk Dressler, R-Biopharm AG; Ruben Barbenec, TVM Captial; Dr. Julian Zachmann, HTGF; Dr. Sascha Berger, TVM Capital; Dr. Andreas Jenne, Ventura BioMed Partners; Dr. Markus Dietrich, Hadean Ventures; Dr. Richard Lichtenberg, HTGF; Karen Chan, Biogeneration Ventures; Kai Wohlberedt, Wellington Partners; Dr. Johannes Fischer, Wellington Partners.
Front row l-r.: Dr. Ahish Rajput, Lengevity Tech Fund; Dr. Amrita Jain, LongeVC; Dr. Alexander Ehlgen, Boehringer Ingelheim; Ingo Klöckner Bayer AG; Dr. Peter Schubert, R-Biopharm AG; Lisann Blauw, Tuja Capital.
About the Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology (IZB) in Martinsried near Munich’The Fördergesellschaft IZB mbH, founded in 1995, operates the Innovation and Start-up Centers for Biotechnology in Planegg-Martinsried and Freising-Weihenstephan and has developed into a leading biotechnology center. More than 50 biotech companies with over 700 employees are currently based on 26,000 m2. Here, work is being done on developing drugs for the most serious diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and various autoimmune diseases. A key criterion for the success of the IZBs is the physical proximity to cutting-edge research on the Martinsried/Grosshadern campus and the Weihenstephan campus. The new infrastructure measures such as the Faculty Club G2B (Gateway to Biotech), the IZB Residence CAMPUS AT HOME, the Elhardt chemistry college, the two kindergartens Bio Kids and Bio Kids2 as well as the two restaurants SEVEN AND MORE and THE BOWL Food Lounge are also location factors that are highly valued by the founders of the company. Successful companies that emerged from the IZB include Corimmun (today Janssen-Cilag), Coriolis, Exosome Diagnostics (bought by Bio-Techn), ibidi, Immunic Therapeutics, Medigene, Micromet (today Amgen), MorphoSys, Octopharma or Rigontec (now MSD). More information at www.izb-online.de
Press contact and image material requests:
Susanne Simon, Head of Press and Public Relations
Funding company IZB mbH, Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology
Am Klopferspitz 19, D-82152 Planegg-Martinsried, phone: +49 (0)89/55 279 48-17, email: ed.enilno-bzi@nomis; Website: www.izb-online.de
Website: www.izb-online.de
About High-Tech Gründerfonds
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances technology start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 680 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of its fourth fund, HTGF has over 1.3 billion euros under management. The team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts supports the young companies with know-how, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. The focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemicals and related business areas. More than €4 billion in capital has been invested in the HTGF portfolio by external investors in more than 1,900 follow-on financing rounds to date. In addition, the fund has already successfully sold shares in more than 160 companies.
Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and more than 40 companies from a wide range of industries. https://www.htgf.de/de/
Media contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Stefanie Grüter, Head of Marketing & Communications
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 188
ed.fgth@reteurg.s