Tacalyx GmbH raises €7m in seed funding

The financing was co-led  by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Kurma Partners. Idinvest Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), coparion, and Creathor Ventures also participated in the seed round.  Upon the financing, Dr. Lena Krzyzak (High-Tech Gründerfonds), Ulrich Mahr (Max Planck Innovation), Dr. Detlev Mennerich (Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund), Dr. Peter Neubeck (Kurma Partners, Idinvest Partners), Dr. Sebastian Pünzeler (coparion) and Karlheinz Schmelig (Creathor) will join Tacalyx’s board of directors alongside Prof. Dr. Peter H. Seeberger (MPI for Colloids and Interfaces).

Tacalyx is a spin-out from the group of Peter Seeberger, Director of Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, near Berlin. The company said it will use the proceeds to advance its discovery platform, lead selection and optimisation and start pre-clinical development. In contrast to most cancer targets, which are just overexpresses at the tumour cell surface, TACAs are considered specificically expressed on a wider variety of tumour cells. At the same time TACAs drive tumour virulence, which is defined by high rates of proliferation, invasiveness and motility, potential for metastasis, and the extent to which the cancer contributes to patient morbidity and mortality. Tacalyx believes that masking and/or down-regulation of TACAs thus will compromise the vital functions of the tumour cell.

However, TACAs’ are not very immunogenic. Thus the the generation of antibodies tageting them is challenging. The company combines the unique ability to synthesize sufficient amounts of ultra-pure and highly complex TACA structures with its analysis and screening capabilities

Tacalyx has licensed the underlying technology developed by its scientific co-founders, Prof. Dr. Peter  Seeberger, and glycosciences expert Dr. Oren Moscovitz, Group leader his institute.