The funding, provided by investors including Qbic, will allow VUB and VIB spinout Confo Therapeutics to accelerate its drug discovery efforts and move towards clinical trials.
Confo Therapeutics, a Belgium-based drug discovery spinout of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and research institute Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), has closed a €30m ($33.4m) series A round with investors including VIB.
Venture firms BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) and Wellington Partners Venture Capital co-led the round, with contributions from multi-university venture firm Qbic, whose remit includes VUB, as well as V-Bio Ventures, a venture fund allied to VIB.
The other participants were Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (Mints), University of Michigan’s venture fund, as well as Flemish state-owned investment vehicle Participatie Maatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV), Fund+, Perceptive Advisors and Capricorn Health-Tech Fund.
Confo Therapeutics has developed a platform called ConfoBody that facilitates the production of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR)-modulating antibodies, known as ConfoBodies, which have applications in drug discovery.
Loss of GPCR function has been connected to a range of health conditions, including forms of diabetes, hypogonadism and severe obesity. The ConfoBodies are able to home in on specific groups of GPCR to uncover previously inaccessible structures that can form the basis of a target for drug development.
Confo Therapeutics is advancing a pipeline of internal candidates based on the approach but will also focus on strategic collaborations with third-party pharmaceutical developers, having already secured deals with Lundbeck and Roche.
The series A capital will help Confo Therapeutics accelerate its drug discovery strategy and prepare its internal candidates for clinical trials.
Confo Therapeutics was co-founded by VIB and Capricorn Venture Partners in 2015 with support from Mints, PMV, Qbic and V-Bio Ventures.
The business raised $3.4m that same year in a Capricorn Health-Tech Fund-led round that featured Qbic and PMV commercialisation unit Sofi, before disclosing a $7.4m transaction in 2016, with commitments from Capricorn Health-Tech, Qbic, Sofi, Mints, PMV, V-Bio Ventures and VIB.
Both of these rounds were billed as the spinout’s first in press releases, though it was unclear whether the $7.4m round incorporated the earlier $3.4m investment.
