Tubulis secures €308m in record-breaking Series C financing  

Munich-based biotech Tubulis has closed a €308m (US$361m) Series C financing round – the largest of its kind for a European biotechnology company at the Series C stage and also the world’s largest financing for a private ADC (antibody–drug conjugate) developer.

The round was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, joined by new investors Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital, alongside existing backers including EQT Life Sciences, Frazier Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, and others.

The funds will accelerate the clinical development of lead candidate TUB-040 – an ADC targeting ovarian and lung cancer – and support further pipeline expansion. TUB-040 received FDA Fast Track designation in 2024 and is currently being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa study.  TUB-040 is directed against NaPi2b, an antigen highly overexpressed in ovarian cancer and lung adenocarcinoma. It consists of an IgG1 antibody targeting NaPi2b equipped with Tubulis’ proprietary Tubutecan technology, connecting the Topoisomerase I inhibitor, exatecan, through a cleavable linker system based on the company’s proprietary P5 conjugation technology with a homogeneous DAR of 8

Tubulis also plans to advance its ADC technology platforms and explore new therapeutic applications. CEO Dr Dominik Schumacher described the financing as “a milestone for the company and for the ADC field as a whole,” strengthened by the trust of international investors.

Recently, Tubulis secured the exclusive global rights to an antibody developed by Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China). Using its proprietary linker and payload technologies, the company intends to develop a highly specific ADC, without disclosing the target or financial details.

It´s the linker tech

Tubulis’ unique technology platform enables precise, covalent attachment of a defined number of cytotoxic payload molecules to an antibody. This design minimises premature payload release – and therefore potential damage to healthy tissue – while allowing the drug-to-antibody ratio to be fine-tuned based on the potency of the toxin used.

Dr Schumacher’s biotech roots run deep: his father, Jürgen Schumacher, co-founded diagnostics and lab supplier Qiagen in Düsseldorf. In a recent interview with |transkript(2/25), Dominik Schumacher reflected on the lessons behind his drive: “Every setback has a purpose and ultimately leads to something better. People are often far too afraid of failure.”

With its latest financing round, Tubulis joins the top tier of ADC developers, alongside ProfoundBio (Seattle/China) and Adcendo ApS (Copenhaven), whose recent Series B rounds reached similar heights (USD 112 million, USD 135 million and its own Series B2 of EUR 128 million, respectively).

(*) According to data cross-checked with iito Business Intelligence, higher Series A and B rounds have been recorded in Europe – such as CureVac’s €560 million Series B (2020), Verdiva Bio’s €355 million Series A (2025), and Isomorphic Labs’ €519 million Series A (2024) – but only one higher Series C: Babylon Health’s €476 million round in 2019. However, the UK-based AI company later filed for bankruptcy in 2023.