Engimmune Therapeutics raises CHF 15.5m in a Seed Financing

Engimmune Therapeutics, a Swiss biotech company based in Basel developing novel T-cell receptor (TCR)-based therapeutics, has closed a CHF 15.5m seed financing round. The round was led by the investors Pureos Bio-ventures and Novo Holdings with incubation from BaseLaunch. The proceeds will be used to grow and develop T-cell receptor-based therapies for cancer treatments, expand the research team in Switzerland and build a foothold in Denmark, with a focus on GMP-certified manufacturing, clinical development, and regulatory affairs.

Engimmune is a platform company using cutting-edge technologies to engineer highly potent and specific TCR-based therapies for cancer treatment. By combining genome editing, functional screening, deep sequencing and machine learning, Engimmune addresses major efficacy and safety challenges that currently limit the full potential of TCR-T cell and soluble TCR therapies.

Engimmune is a spinout from the lab of Prof Sai Reddy at ETH Zurich and Dr Rodrigo Vazquez-Lombardi, co-inventor of the company’s platform technologies, who is now its Chief Scientific Officer. The company was initially incubated and financed through BaseLaunch, a Switzerland-based incubator and accelerator. The seed round is funded by Pureos Bioventures, a Swiss venture capital fund investing in innovative drug development companies and Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings.

The company also announces the appointment of TCR pioneer and industry veteran Dr Bent Jakobsen as Chairman of the Board. Former chief scientist and co-founder of Immunocore, a soluble TCR therapeutics company, and Adaptimmune, an adoptive TCR-T cell therapy company, Dr Jakobsen is a global expert in the field of T cell immunology.

The VISCHER corporate/m&a team advising the investors in this transaction included Matthias Staehelin (partner, pictured), Vincent S. Reardon (managing associate) and Pauline Pfirter (associate).