Participated · Equity · Mar 2024

AbilityPharma is a Barcelona-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative oral autophagy-inducing anticancer compounds. Its lead candidate, ABTL0812, is in a Phase 2b trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer, with all 140 patients recruited. The trial is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, first-line study combining ABTL0812 with FOLFIRINOX and is ongoing at 23 hospitals across Spain, the USA, France and Israel. Efficacy results from the study are expected by year-end. The company is led by CEO Carles Domènech. AbilityPharma raised €7M to finance the Phase 2b clinical study of ABTL0812. AbilityPharma develops oral anticancer agents that induce selective autophagy-mediated cytotoxicity in cancer cells, with ABTL0812 as its lead asset. ABTL0812 has shown positive results in phase 2 trials as a first-line therapy in endometrial and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer in Europe. The company plans a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2b study in pancreatic cancer testing ABTL0812 in combination with FOLFIRINOX across sites in Spain, France, the United States and Israel. AbilityPharma aims to complete that trial in 2022 and pursue a licensing agreement with a multinational pharma to bring ABTL0812 to patients by 2024. Financially, the company raised €6.1M in the second half of 2020 to fund its pancreatic cancer program and has received support from public and private sources including EIC Accelerator and an FDA grant. Ability Pharma develops novel first-in-class cancer medicines that act on autophagy to induce cancer cell death; its lead candidate is ABTL0812 for pancreatic cancer. The company secured $1.9M from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to fund a Phase IIb clinical trial of ABTL0812. That FDA funding will be complemented by €5M in European Union grants, private investors and a crowdfunding round on Capital Cell to total €9.2M for the program. Since its founding in 2009 by Carles Domènech, Ability has previously raised €13.8M (excluding this round) with backers including Inveready, Fitalent (Everis) and Sodena. Ability also has a licensing agreement with SciClone for China. The company is based in the Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and the Parc de Recerca de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Catalonia. Ability Pharma develops novel first-in-class drug candidates that target autophagy to induce cancer‑cell death, with lead compound ABTL0812. The company is advancing ABTL0812 into a phase II clinical trial in pancreatic cancer in combination with another drug, and has ongoing trials in endometrial and lung cancer. It has secured public R&D funding through the European Commission/Horizon Europe (including a €2.5M Accelerator award) and additional investment arranged via the EIB process. The article states €5M from EC-related projects will be used to start the phase II study, which will include centers in Spain, France, Israel and other European sites. Current venture shareholders include Inveready, Everis and Sodena. Ability Pharma was founded in 2009 by president Carles Domènech and is located at Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and the Parc de Recerca de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Catalonia). AbilityPharma is a Catalan biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing ABTL0812, an oral first-in-class antitumor compound that induces cancer cell death by autophagy. ABTL0812 is in phase 2 clinical trials in Europe for endometrial cancer and squamous non-small-cell lung cancer, with interim endometrial data showing response increases of up to 50% among evaluable patients. The company intends to use new financing to complete the ongoing phase 2 studies in Spain and France and to secure a licensing agreement with a pharmaceutical partner for further development and commercialization. ABTL0812 completed a phase 1/1b study (29 patients) showing strong safety and signs of efficacy, and holds Orphan Drug Designations for pancreatic cancer, biliary cancer and pediatric neuroblastoma from FDA and EMA. AbilityPharma previously signed a territorial license for China with SciClone in April 2016 and is based in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona) at the Parc Tecnològic del Vallès and Parc de Recerca UAB. After the financing the company strengthened its executive team by appointing Maribel Berges as CEO and moving cofounder Carles Domènech to Executive Chairman and CSO; two new board members will join representing investors.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2022

Medibiofarma is a private Spanish biopharmaceutical company founded in 2016 that focuses on discovering and developing new drugs for gastrointestinal, neurological and oncological indications. Its lead asset, MBF-118, is a novel small molecule that acts as a partial PPARγ agonist with antifibrotic and antiinflammatory properties and shows high intestinal tissue exposure in pharmacokinetic studies. MBF-118 has demonstrated good tolerability and efficacy in animal models of fibrosis and colitis and is completing Phase I clinical development. The company states the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s IBD Ventures financing will be used to complete the preclinical characterization of MBF-118. Medibiofarma reports a three-project early-stage pipeline supported by internal medicinal chemistry capabilities and an experienced drug-discovery team. The company is partially owned by Inveready and has previously closed a €1.2M financing round with a group of Spanish public and private backers. Medibiofarma is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing new therapies for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Since its 2016 founding, the firm has discovered, patented and advanced three experimental drugs into clinical trials. The company was formed by part of the founding team of Palobiofarma and operates from the CEIN business incubator in Navarra. Its current team comprises seven people, four of whom are female scientists. Medibiofarma’s stated objective is to advance its compounds to a development stage suitable for early licensing agreements with large pharmaceutical companies. Financially, the company recently completed a €1.2M capital increase and secured additional financing from ENISA and CDTI Misiones; Sodena’s cumulative support now exceeds €1.4M. Medibiofarma develops immunomodulatory drugs and immuno-oncology therapies, having advanced three compounds into clinical development within four years. The company says its results position it as a new therapeutic option within current oncology treatments. With the newly secured funds it will advance the clinical phases of two products and begin clinical development of a third. Medibiofarma was created in 2016 by the promoter team of Palobiofarma and is based in the CEIN facilities in the Mocholí industrial estate (Navarra). The firm reports a small, highly qualified team of five employees and has received ongoing support from Sodena since its founding. Financially, the company has covered a €1.3M financing package to progress its clinical programs.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2021

Citibeats develops AI solutions that process unstructured data to detect and analyse complex social narratives in real time, reducing the lag common to traditional social listening. Its platform incorporates data-privacy and bias-reduction algorithms and targets governments, multilateral organisations, and private companies. The technology has been used to support the World Health Organization’s EARS project monitoring COVID-19 chatter and the company says it has informed over $1 billion in social risk mitigation decisions. Clients include Twitter, Facebook, UNDP, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, NTT Data, and UNESCO. Citibeats was founded in 2018 by Ivan Caballero and is based in Barcelona. The company raised €2 million in its latest round and has €3.5 million in total funding to date; proceeds will support expansion across LATAM and the US and consolidation in APAC and EMEA.

Led · Equity · Jan 2020

Boxmotions operates an app-driven "trastero inteligente" (smart storage) service that collects users' belongings on demand, catalogs items with photographs, stores them, and returns items managed online. The company develops and iterates its own technology to avoid users' physical trips, heavy lifting, and furniture assembly/disassembly. Founders Pol Karaso and Alex Corbacho lead the business from Barcelona. Boxmotions says its integrated service can be up to 15% more economical than a traditional storage unit. The company plans to use new capital to continue expansion across Spain, begin operations in Valencia, and consolidate its Barcelona and Madrid markets. It is also pursuing internationalization, having provided service in Paris since September 2019. Boxmotions operates a valet storage service that schedules pick-up and storage of customers' belongings. It uses a monthly subscription business model that lets users manage where and how their items are stored. The startup launched in 2016 in Barcelona and was founded by Álex Corbacho and Pol Karaso, who come from airlines and logistics backgrounds. Boxmotions has raised €1 million in a seed round from investors including Inveready, Banco Sabadell’s BStartup, Athos Capital and The Crowd Angel. Investor Inveready estimates Europe's self-storage market at around $1 billion, with Spain the third biggest market. The company has appointed Sacha Michaud, cofounder of Glovo, as an advisor to its board. Next it plans launches in Madrid, London and Paris.

Led · Equity · May 2019

ICIRED operates a digital platform for claiming, publishing and recovering unpaid debts and offers the first online credit-information registry in Spain accessible to individuals, businesses and financial institutions. The platform enables users to submit claims from €29.90 and to share information on non-financial debt, aiming to democratize morosity files and improve credit-risk information. Founded in 2013, the company emphasizes legal and data-protection compliance and has positioned itself within fintech/legaltech through technology partnerships. Everis’ Initiatives division developed the platform’s software and implementation, while Momo Fintech is collaborating on digital payment technology for online claims. The company has broadened distribution and connectivity prospects through a strategic alliance with Informa D&B, which will link ICIRED to the national financial system and Informa’s client base. The recent capital injection consolidates ICIRED’s business model and supports further product and market development.