Venneos, a Germany-based biotech spinout of research network Max Planck Society, has obtained an undisclosed sum from the organisation’s tech transfer arm Max Planck Innovation.
The round also featured German public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds, venture capital fund Born2Grow and unnamed family offices and angel investors.
Founded in 2013, Venneos has developed cellular analysis technology that collects electrical signals from cell mutations on a silicon chip, providing a more accurate picture for researchers of new technologies.
The technology was developed at Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. The spinout’s first product, Can-Q, was commercialised in 2016 and targets research sectors such as tumour biology and pharmacology.
The cash will be used to advance more drug candidates towards commercialisation. The spinout will also use the money to develop its technology for additional uses in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and chemistry.
Max Planck Innovation contributed to a €1m ($1.2m) seed round for Venneos in 2015, along with High-Tech Gründerfonds, holding company Venneos Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Business Angels Stuttgart Region and undisclosed investors.
Florian Kirschenhofer, startup and portfolio manager at Max Planck Innovation, said: “This new round of funding with an experienced investor consortium and a new investor confirms the great potential of this technology from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, and will help expand the research and medical application base in a targeted way.”
