BioNTech pulls in massive €290m financing
It is one of the largest single private funding rounds a biotech company in Europe has ever pulled off. German biotech BioNTech managed to raise US$325m (€290m) in an upsized Series B round to boost its immuno-oncology pipeline.
Two thirds of the funding came from new investors, said the Mainz-based mRNA immunotherapy specialist. However, existing investors were also on board, including Redmile Group, Invus, MiraeAsset Financial Group, Platinum Asset Management, Jebsen Capital, Steam Athena Capital, BVCF Management and the Struengmann Family.
The money is flowing into coffers already well-filled from a Series A financing in early 2018, when BioNTech raked in US$270m (€225m). With the money raised, BioNTech advanced a pipeline of seven product candidates in eight ongoing clinical trials and established a second GMP manufacturing license for production of its individualised neoantigen specific immunotherapies. The company also expanded its antibody platform through the acquisition of a Phase I/IIa programme against pancreatic cancer from MabVax Therapeutics.
This financing round is a significant milestone, commented Ugur Sahin, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech. It is exciting to have the support from high-technology investors who see the accelerating convergence of biology with bioinformatics, robotics and artificial intelligence as an opportunity to develop more precise, efficacious and cost-effective individualised immunotherapies.
adobe stock photos - Sergii Figurnyi 
Laverock Therapeutics