Innovation Industries amends A-Mansia’s $20.3m series A

A-Mansia Biotech, a Belgium-based microbiome therapeutics spinout of Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) and Wageningen University, increased its series A round to €18m ($20.3m) today with an extension from venture fund Innovation Industries.
The contribution follows an initial $15.7m series A close in April 2018 led by VC firm Seventure Partners that featured Fonds Vives II, a university venture fund of UCL.
State-owned regional development vehicle Société Régionale d’Investissement de Wallonie also took part in the first close, as did Groupe Nivelinvest and angel investor Pierre Drion. Seventure Partners through several funds, including Health for Life Capital.
Founded in 2016, A-Mansia is working on medications underpinned by a strain of live gut bacteria known as Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila), which has been shown to combat metabolic and inflammatory disorders in pre-clinical models.
A. muciniphila was first isolated at Wageningen University in 2004. Its potency stems from its organic location in the mucus layer surrounding the intestines’ outer lining, which allows it to communicate with the patient’s immune system and metabolic functions.
William Vos, professor in Wageningen’s department of agrotechnology and food sciences, co-founded A-Mansia together with his peer, Patrice Cani, who co-leads UCL’s metabolism and nutrition research group.
A-Mansia Biotech is currently undertaking an exploratory clinical study of its approach at UCL-run hospital Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, with the preliminary findings suggesting A. muciniphila is safe and well-tolerated.
The spinout plans to use the series A capital to develop an A. muciniphila-based nutritional supplement that would be marketed to patients with conditions indicating high cardio-metabolic risk, such as high blood cholesterol or visceral fat accumulation.
Tom Schwarz, partner at Innovation Industries, said: “A-Mansia has proprietary knowledge on the unique A. muciniphila bacterium and will play a leading role in innovative microbiome health solutions. We look forward to working closely together with the highly professional team of A-Mansia.”