PL BioScience closes € 7.8 million Series A Financing
Image: The leading minds at PL BioScience: Dr. Hatim Hemeda (CEO), Christian Wilkes (CFO).
PL BioScience closes € 7.8 million Series A Financing
- With the funding raised and the extensive experience of all partners, PL BioScience will scale up production capacities and strengthen the company’s position in thriving cell culture markets.
- PL BioScience secures position as provider of growth-promoting cell culture media advancing therapeutic developments in regenerative medicine.
AACHEN, Germany, 8th August 2024 – PL BioScience GmbH (“PL BioScience”), a pioneer in sustainable cell culture media, has successfully completed a €7.8 million Series A financing round. The growth-stage round attracted significant investment from AVANT BIO (New York), LePure Biotech (Shanghai), b.value AG (Dortmund) and better ventures (Munich). The four partners are contributing their experiences in deep-tech, life science and health-tech spaces. The consortium is joining a group of existing investors around Brightlands Venture Partners (Geleen) and TechVision Fonds (Aachen) who have reaffirmed their commitment to the company’s mission of advancing therapeutic development in regenerative medicine.
“We look forward to continuing our support of PL Bioscience and their outstanding HPL products together with this great investor consortium in the coming years,” says Bernhard Kugel, Managing Partner of TechVision Fonds. Dr. Luc Starmans, Partner at Brightlands Venture Partners, also expresses the continuing commitment: “We are thrilled to congratulate the team and warmly welcome our new partners to this exciting journey. Together, we look forward to scaling up PL BioScience’s groundbreaking work in advancing effective cell therapies, bringing transformative benefits to patients and the planet alike.”
Pioneering Cell Culture Technology
PL BioScience’s cutting-edge Human Platelet Lysate (HPL) technology promotes cell therapy developments. Derived from donated blood no longer suitable for transfusion, HPL provides a sustainable and effective alternative to animal-derived cell culture media. This technology is pivotal in driving progress in cell therapy development, ensuring reliable results in laboratories worldwide and paving the way for advancements in regenerative medicine.
“PL BioScience’s ELAREM™ platform uniquely addresses researchers’ needs by providing cell culture media based on human platelets across the entire research chain” says Reinhard Vogt, Partner at AVANT BIO, who will join PL BioScience’s Advisory Board after closing. “We are excited to support PL BioScience as they enter a new phase of commercial expansion both with working capital along with decades of experience within the team in the area of cell culture media.”
Paving the Way for Regenerative Treatments
The company’s extensive customer base, which includes leading life science and healthcare companies, research institutions, and university hospitals, relies on PL BioScience’s HPL for developing cutting-edge cellular therapies. These therapies are dependent on highly safe and effective growth media to promote the treatment of autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes mellitus or enhance tissue repair for wound healing.
Tina Dreimann, Founder and Managing Director of better ventures, summarizes the company’s mission: “We are excited to support PL BioScience as they revolutionize regenerative medicine with their innovative HPL technology. With a strong team, proven market fit, and strategic patent portfolio, PL BioScience stands out as an exceptional investment in the biomedical field.“
Massive Growth in Global Cell Culture Media Demand
Dr. Hatim Hemeda, Co-founder and CEO of PL BioScience, highlights the growing demand for high-quality cell culture media suited to the high requirements of clinical studies: “The increasing number of clinical trials, especially involving stem cells, opens promising solution approaches. This surge is driving the establishment of manufacturing facilities and advancements in regulatory frameworks, escalating the demand for cell culture media worldwide.”
The global stem cell therapy market, as an example, is estimated to skyrocket from USD 15 billion in 2024 to USD 63 billion by 2031. (Source: Global Stem Cell Therapy Market, Coherent Market Insights, 2024.) This trend is not only evident in Europe and the US but also in China, where the demand for HPL is rising rapidly. “China currently relies almost entirely on imported media for stem cell and T cell culturing. With the advancement of regenerative medicine, the market potential for HPL culture media in China is enormous”, Yu Chen, CFO at LePure Biotech, notes.
Strategic Global Partnership Advances Geographic Expansion
Christian Wilkes, Co-founder and CFO of PL BioScience, emphasizes the strategic importance of the international partnerships: “Our commitment to delivering high-quality, animal-free growth media has earned us a solid reputation both locally and globally. The involvement of prominent investment companies from Europe, the US, and China accelerates our global growth strategy and strengthens our presence in these emerging geographic markets.”
Peter Kallien, Managing Partner and Founder of b.value AG, specifies where he perceives the company’s potential: “PL BioScience is perfectly positioned with their HPL which meets the high standards needed for clinical cell culture and that is scalable to supply the growing market of regenerative medicine. We are proud to back a team that not only has the expertise but also the passion to make a real difference.”
About PL BioScience GmbH
PL BioScience specializes in manufacturing human growth media for cell cultivation, which are increasingly required for cell therapy development in regenerative medicine. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, the company has developed an innovative technology to obtain Human Platelet Lysate (HPL) from human platelets. PL BioScience’s technology offers animal-free, high-quality growth media for the life science industry. Supporting leading life science and biotech companies, research institutions and university hospitals, PL BioScience is dedicated to advancing medical research and development.
plbioscience.com
PL BioScience’s Investors
About AVANT BIO LLC
Avant Bio is a growth equity firm focused on the enabling technologies shaping how tomorrow’s therapeutics are developed, with an investment focus that accelerates new growth and innovation at various stages of company development. With a commitment to amplifying value and a forward-looking investment strategy, Avant Bio is primed to unlock the full potential of therapeutic enabling technologies, TechBio, and Healthtech. With 8+ decades of experience combined across our team, we provide connections, deep expertise, and long-term guidance to bring innovative ideas to life and drive transformative technologies.
avant.bio
About LePure Biotech Co., Ltd.
LePure is a leading bioprocessing platform in China, offering full-fledged product solutions that enable the manufacturing of macromolecular drugs. LePure was founded in 2011 by Sunxing Qin and Feng Wang, seasoned entrepreneurs with deep commercial and scientific experience in the bioprocessing field. LePure’s broadened product suite now includes single use bioprocessing consumables, bioreactors, filtration and purification solutions and products, cell culture media offerings, and cleaning & disinfectant products and services. As one of the earliest providers of single use consumables and equipment for biopharmaceutical companies in China, LePure has kept its focus on improving research and development to deliver high-quality products for its customers.
lepurebiotech.com
About b.value AG
The b.value AG invests in deep-tech startups that combine exceptional founding personalities and disruptive technologies to provide solutions for a sustainable world of tomorrow. The b.value AG team is characterized by deep technology expertise and many years of operational experience in building and managing biotech and high-tech companies enabling to identify the most promising deep-tech startups and to support them financially and strategically to realize their full potential. The unique structure and experience allow b.value AG to act flexibly and take a long-term view.
bvalue.de
About better ventures
better ventures is a curated network of like-minded entrepreneurs who invest in ambitious founders. better ventures’ mission is to accelerate the success of impact teams by connecting them with the best investors. In addition to capital, better ventures offers start-ups experience and access to its network. The network already unites over 70 successful entrepreneurs with the common goal of sustainably improving the world and transforming the economy. better ventures is convinced that founders are the most effective lever. Everdrop, MAGNOTHERM, Ocell and Ecoplanet are among its portfolio companies.
betterventures.io
About Brightland Venture Partners
Brightlands Venture Partners (BVP) is an impact investor in groundbreaking and early-stage health and sustainability startups that operate out of the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. BVP is the fund manager of Brightlands Venture Partners Fund IV B.V. Other BVP funds include Chemelot Ventures, Brightlands Agrifood Fund, and Limburg Ventures. Together, the funds have made over 50 investments to date.
brightlandsventurepartners.com
About TechVision Fonds
The TechVision Fonds (TVF) is the leading early-stage VC fund from the Rhineland/NRW with a focus on technology start-ups in the pre-seed to Series A phases. TVF focuses on outstanding teams from the region, including the neighboring Netherlands and Belgium. The TVF management has experience from four fund generations and currently has over € 100 million in assets under management. The fund is backed by strong investors such as NRW.BANK, seven savings banks from western NRW and more than 15 successful entrepreneurs. TVF supports start-up teams with proximity, network and expertise and paves the way for them to become the next international industry leader. Through the S-UBG Group network, TVF offers unique access to over 150 successful companies in various industries and establishes contacts between start-ups and their first customers, partners, and consultants. TVF – Brain | Cash | Proximity.
tvf.vc
Press Contact:
PL BioScience GmbH
Jungsoo Park
VP of Marketing and Sales
Dennewartstr. 25-27
52068 Aachen (Germany)
Tel.: +49 241 95719-100
presse@pl-bioscience.com
www.plbioscience.com
Image Source: PL BioScience GmbH