Emergence Therapeutics Announces a Bumped-up Follow-on Seed Round Financing

November 25, 2020

Financing enables company to embark on additional targets and expand ADC technology reach

Emergence Therapeutics AG, a European biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) immuno-therapeutics to treat high need cancers, announces that is has closed a Bumped-up Follow-on Seed Round Financing from a syndicate of leading European investors comprising Bpifrance through its InnoBio 2 fund, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, High-Tech Gründerfonds, idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and NRW.Bank. The Follow-on Seed Round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and included support from the first pillar of the German Federal Government’s Euro 2 billion package of measures for start-ups.

We are grateful for the continued support from our investors at this seed stage. The proceeds from the Follow-on Seed Round will be used to continue the development of our lead program targeting Nectin-4, an increasingly important and clinically validated target for a broad range of cancers. Moreover, the funding enables us to expedite work on further programs as well as expand our ADC toolset with additional, highly innovative linker-payload technologies.

Jack Elands, CEO of Emergence Therapeutics

We are particularly impressed with the approach Emergence Therapeutics is taking towards developing novel, much needed cancer treatments. The company features a unique combination of ADC technology driven by innovation and led by a world-class management team.

Dr. Anke Caßing, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds

About Emergence Therapeutics
Emergence Therapeutics is a European biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) immuno-therapeutics to treat high-need cancers. Its lead program uses innovative linker technology and payload technology to target Nectin-4 – an important and validated target for a broad range of cancers. Furthermore, Emergence is actively exploring opportunities to develop further best- or first-in-class ADCs driven by therapeutic need.

Emergence has entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with SATT Sud-Est (the regional tech transfer office for Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS and Inserm) through which the Company has been granted exclusive rights to a set of anti-Nectin-4 antibodies developed by Dr. Marc Lopez at the Cancer Research Center of Marseille, France. SATT Sud-Est is also providing financial support to the Emergence program.

Emergence has also entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Pharma AG (FWB: HPHA). Through this agreement Emergence has access to Heidelberg Pharma’s amanitin-based payloads and corresponding linkers (proprietary ATAC Technology). Heidelberg Pharma Research is also a founding investor in Emergence.

Nectin-4 has been clinically validated as an ADC target by enfortumab vedotin, recently approved for the treatment of urothelial cancers by the US Food and Drug Administration. Nectin-4 is highly expressed by many different cancers and has a limited expression in healthy tissues, especially compared to many other ADC targets. Emergence is developing a new Nectin-4 ADC with the potential to be a best-in-class ADC.

Emergence is led by a strong management team and is supported by a network of world-leading scientists who have contributed significantly to the field of immuno-oncology. The Company is backed by a strong syndicate of European investors including Bpifrance, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH, High-Tech Gründerfonds, idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and NRW.Bank. Emergence is based in Duisburg, Germany with a subsidiary in Marseille, France. For more information, please visit: www.emergencetx.com.

Contact
Jack Elands, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
jelands@emergencetx.com
T.: +33 6 38 35 70 08
Emergence Therapeutics AG
Schifferstrasse 210
47059 Duisburg, Germany

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With around EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge almost 600 start-ups since 2005. Driven by their expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion, its team of experienced investment managers and startup experts help guide the development of young companies. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial technology, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected over EUR 2.7 billion into the HTGF portfolio via more than 1,600 follow-on financing rounds. HTGF has also successfully sold interests in more than 100 companies.

Investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and 32 companies.  The Fund Investors
www.htgf.de/en

Media Contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Stefanie Grüter
T.: +49228 – 82300 – 188
s.grueter@htgf.de

Investor Contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Dr. Anke Caßing, Senior Investment Manager
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 148
a.cassing@htgf.de