Acousia Therapeutics, a Germany-based ear disease therapy developer based on research at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, has closed a €10m ($11.8m) series B round led by LBBW Venture Capital.
LBBW Venture Capital, an investment subsidiary of banking group Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, was joined by investors including pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategic investment unit, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF).
German government-owned development bank KfW, Creathor Ventures and Bregua also took part in the round.
Founded in 2012, Acousia Therapeutics is developing drug treatments to combat hearing loss caused by age, noise trauma or ototoxic therapy. Its approach uses cellular regeneration to rebuild sensory hair cells damaged by inner ear diseases.
The capital will be used for research and development, as Acousia prepares its drug candidates for clinical testing. The company’s lead asset, ACOU085, could prevent hearing loss for cancer patients which arises as a side effect of cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Acousia was founded by Hubert Löwenheim, a regenerative medicine professor in Tübingen’s Hearing Research Centre, with support from BIVF and biochemicals services provider EMC Microcollections.
BIVF subsequently led Acousia’s $2.6m series A round in December 2016, investing together with KfW and contract research provider Axxam.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.