Biovance Capital invests €4 million in Laigo Bio and co-leads its oversubscribed €17 million seed round

• Laigo Bio, based in the Netherlands, is developing breakthrough treatments for oncology and autoimmune diseases.

• This deal represents the first international investment of Biovance Capital Fund I, which will also enable the expansion of Laigo Bio into Portugal.

• The company expanded its initial €11.5 million seed round, announced in December, to €17 million at this second close, with new investments from Biovance and Kurma Partners.

Biovance Capital, Portugal’s leading life sciences venture capital firm, announced today during BIO-Europe Spring in Lisbon that it has invested €4 million in Dutch biotech company Laigo Bio (“Laigo”), as part of the second close of its €17 million seed investment round. Biovance co-led this round together with Kurma Partners, alongside a strong line-up of European investors including Angelini Ventures, Curie Capital, Argobio Studio, Eurazeo, Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht region, and Cancer Research Horizons.

Laigo is a biotech company pioneering novel and highly differentiated therapies using its proprietary Surface Removal Targeting Chimeras (SureTAC™) precision membrane protein degradation platform. The proceeds of this financing round will be used to accelerate the development of Laigo’s SureTAC oncology programs towards the clinic, as well as advance its three candidate programs for selected autoimmune and immunology indications, and graft rejection. In addition, with this new investment, Laigo will expand activities in Portugal and recruit world-class local talent.

Laigo’s proprietary SureTAC platform generates bispecific antibodies that pair an optimal E3 ligase with a disease-causing target protein, stimulating its ubiquitination and degradation with a high degree of specificity. Laigo’s platform allows the development of first-in-class, dual targeted therapies that eliminate disease-driving membrane targets.

“We are delighted to announce the first international investment of our fund, and second investment overall, during BIO-Europe Spring in Lisbon. We look forward to supporting Laigo’s growth as its pre-clinical programs advance into the clinic”, said Ricardo Perdigão Henriques, PhD, Managing Partner of Biovance Capital, the investment firm co-leading the round. “Laigo has shown that its SureTAC degradation technology results in remarkable in vivo and in vitro efficacy, with a high degree of selectivity and improved toxicity and safety. We at Biovance Capital see phenomenal potential in Laigo’s technology and support its commitment to exploring an ever-evolving universe of new targets, including those currently considered undruggable”, added João Incio, MD/PhD, General Partner of Biovance Capital.

“The second close of our seed financing round further validates the potential of our SureTAC platform and its ability to identify first-in-class dual targeted therapies to redefine the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The additional investment and support from new co-lead investor Biovance Capital, alongside further funding from our existing co-lead investor Kurma Partners, will accelerate our oncology programs towards the clinic and enhance our discovery efforts in autoimmune and immunology. We welcome Dr. João Incio to the Board of Directors”, said Matthew Baker, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Laigo.