Ascenion seals three exits in 2019

Germany-based multi-university tech transfer unit Ascenion capped three portfolio exits during 2019 although the total return dropped to €2.3m ($3.1m) from $5.4m in 2018.
The unit held a total of 23 shareholdings by the end of 2019, two of which were acquired during the period.
Ascenion said it had witnessed delays launching new spinouts due to diverging interests of different stakeholders.
The company proposes to respond with a new framework for licensing and equity conditions in the hope of accelerating the founding process.
Overall revenue fell by around 25% year-on-year during 2019 to $6.8m, though more was reinvested into LifeScience Foundation, Ascenion’s parent company, to further research at its member institutions.
LifeScience Foundation received a total of around $2.5m from Ascenion last year, compared with around $700,000 in 2018.
Ascenion’s member institutions received $5.5m under commercialisation deals signed on their behalf, a decrease from $6.4m in 2018.  There were 107 inventions disclosed in 2019, in addition to 48 patent applications.
The company’s exits in 2019 included Hannover Medical School-founded Zellkraftwerk, developers of a chip for multiplex processing of cellular samples.
Ascenion also exited drug release technology developer WBC Drug Delivery Technologies and clinical contract research business Inamed, both spinouts of Helmholtz Associate of German Research Centres. Inamed was the company’s oldest portfolio company.