• illuminem

  Led · Equity · Jul 2024

  Illuminem helps providers of sustainability solutions grow by combining AI-driven web scanning for climate-related content, a Sustainability Sales Navigator, and tools to monitor and compare ESG performance of public and private companies. The company operates across three core pillars: continuous AI content discovery, a sales enablement product for sustainability vendors, and ESG benchmarking and monitoring. It has developed an extensive network of experts, technicians, analysts, professors, economists, scientists and partners around the climate-change theme. Founded by Andrea Gori and based in Venice, Illuminem recently closed a €2 million funding round and is presently valued at €12 million. The company says it is active along these three trajectories and has built its product and network around them. It earned second place in the publication's first Community Award.

• Convert Pharmaceuticals

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2018

  Convert Pharmaceuticals develops tumor-microenvironment modulated prodrugs with a focus on hypoxia-activated cytotoxins. Its lead candidate, CP-506, is a hypoxia-activated cytotoxin designed by Prof. A. Patterson and Prof. J. Smaill from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The company says CP-506 improves activity, specificity and safety relative to older hypoxia-activated prodrugs. Convert was co-founded by Droia, Prof. Dr. Philippe Lambin, Paul Tulcinsky and Nicolas Geûens and is based in Liège, Belgium. The newly raised funds will be used to prepare and conduct initial clinical studies of the lead drug. The financing comprises both equity and non-dilutive support.

• Cell Matters

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2018

  VitriCell develops cryopreservation technology based on aseptic vitrification in chemically defined media to preserve survival and biological properties of sensitive cell types. The company plans to launch its first products and invest in R&D using proceeds from the round. From February it will offer a product that vitrifies embryos in a single 60-second step. Financially, VitriCell closed a €1M Series A composed of €712k in equity plus more than €300k in grants and loans. The company was founded in June 2017 as a spin-off of the University of Liège with initial capital of €100,000. Leadership includes founders Delphine Connan (CEO), Prof. Luc Grobet and Fabien Ectors.

• PDC*line Pharma

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2016

  PDC*line Pharma develops an innovative class of active immunotherapies based on a GMP-grade allogeneic plasmacytoid dendritic cell line (PDC*line) to prime and boost antitumor antigen-specific cytotoxic T-cells. The technology is described as more potent than conventional dendritic cell vaccines, synergistic with checkpoint inhibitors, and potentially applicable to any cancer. The company completed a first-in-human phase I feasibility study in melanoma and is advancing PDC*lung01 (NSCLC) in phase I/II and PDC*neo with neoantigens in preclinical development. The PDC*neo+ program aims to deliver a personalized therapeutic vaccine for colorectal cancer as an adjuvant to prevent relapse and is entering a phase I clinical trial enabled by recent R&D funding. PDC*line Pharma employs 42 staff and reports having raised more than €61M in equity and non-dilutive funding. The company was founded in 2014 as a spin-off of the French Blood Bank (EFS) and operates as a Belgian‑French clinical‑stage biotech. PDC*line Pharma develops an off-the-shelf allogeneic plasmacytoid dendritic cell (PDC*line) platform to create active cancer vaccines. Its lead candidate, PDC*lung01, uses GMP-grade PDC*line antigen-presenting cells loaded with HLA-A2-restricted peptides from seven shared tumor antigens and is in phase I/II trials for NSCLC. PDC*neo, a neoantigen-loaded product, is in preclinical development. The PDC-LUNG-101 study aims to assess safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and preliminary clinical activity and plans to enroll 64 evaluable HLA-A*02:01 positive NSCLC patients across Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. Founded in 2014 as a spin-off from the French Blood Bank (EFS) and led by CEO Eric Halioua, the company operates from Liege, Belgium and Grenoble, France and has a staff of 27. PDC*line has raised more than €52M in equity and non-dilutive funding and previously granted LG Chem Life Sciences an exclusive Asia license and options in a deal worth $123M plus tiered royalties. PDC*line Pharma develops an allogeneic GMP‑grade plasmacytoid dendritic cell platform to prime and boost antitumor T‑cells and to be used synergistically with checkpoint inhibitors. Its lead candidate, PDC*lung01, is in a phase I/II trial (PDC‑LUNG‑101) in France and Belgium for NSCLC. The trial targets 66 HLA‑A*02:01 positive patients across multiple sites; PDC*neo (neoantigen program) is in preclinical development. The company was founded in 2014 as a spin‑off of the French Blood Bank and operates from Liège and Grenoble with a staff of 22. PDC*line has an exclusive Asian licensing deal with LG Chem valued at €108M plus tiered royalties, and it cites clinical progress and that deal as drivers of investor interest. PDC*line Pharma develops a new class of therapeutic universal antigen-presenting cells based on a proprietary plasmacytoid dendritic cell (PDC*line) that can be loaded with various tumor antigens. The product is designed for large-scale GMP-compliant production at competitive cost and is injected into patients to induce a potent anti-tumor CD8+ immune response. The company completed a Phase 1b study on nine patients with advanced melanoma at Grenoble and Nantes university hospitals; results were expected in Q2 2017. In its first funding round the company raised €4M, which it intends to use to advance its cancer immunotherapy technology toward clinical proof of concept. Eric Halioua joined as CEO and president of the board, joining founders Laurent Levy (COO) and Joel Plumas (CSO). In conjunction with the round, PDC*line Pharma established an office in Liège (Walloon Region).

No current team members are available.