Anavo Therapeutics, a global leader in unlocking the full therapeutic potential of human phosphatase biology, debuted with a EUR 20 million (approx. $24 million) seed financing. Anavo’s mission is to pioneer systematic drug discovery and development approaches aimed at phosphatases, a rich and largely untapped therapeutic target class. The funds will be used to advance a proprietary drug discovery portfolio in oncology and establish a versatile and robust platform to address the target space broadly across multiple indications. Anavo’s leadership team, Dr. Birgit Zech and Dr. Gerhard Müller, are building on several years of joint experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and have demonstrated the ability to navigate rapidly emerging sectors in biopharma most recently as co-founders of Gotham Therapeutics. The founding team is further complemented by Claus Schalper, a renowned finance expert and serial biotech entrepreneur. 

Phosphatases and kinases regulate the activity of numerous crucial signaling pathways by removing or adding a phosphate group from proteins or other biomolecules. Imbalances in this process can lead to a multitude of diseases. While kinases have been exploited by drug developers worldwide, phosphatases stayed largely untouched after setbacks earlier in this century. 

 Anavo’s approach focuses on combining profound understanding of phosphatase biology with deep drug discovery expertise and state-of-the-art technologies to design first-in-class and best-in-class small molecule modulators of phosphatase activity. The company has attracted world-leading phosphatase biology expertise to its advisory board in Mathieu Bollen, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at University of Leuven, and Nicholas Tonks, Professor of Cancer Research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Taken together, both have authored and co-authored more than 500 scientific publications on phosphatases and related physiological processes.

“Anavo was founded to unlock the full potential of phosphatase-targeting allosteric modulators and has attracted one of the largest European biotech seed rounds to date.  Recent progress especially around SHP2 has demonstrated that the time is ripe to address phosphatase drug discovery more systematically and on a much larger scale,” said Dr. Birgit Zech, Chief Executive Officer of Anavo Therapeutics. “With Mathieu Bollen and Nicholas Tonks as our initial scientific advisory board members, we have attracted two world-leading scientists in phosphatase biology which complements our deep drug discovery know-how.”

“Academic research on the human phosphatome has moved way ahead of the industry and we are now sitting on a real treasure trove of potential therapeutic avenues to explore, targets to validate, and programs worth translating into preclinical and clinical evaluation,” said Dr. Gerhard Müller, Chief Scientific Officer of Anavo Therapeutics. “Among all target classes currently defined as ‘undruggable’, we expect phosphatases to have the deepest and most profound impact on clinical outcomes once addressed in a systematic and coherent fashion.”

Therese Liechtenstein, Principal at M Ventures, added: “Anavo’s novel approach and its experienced management team provide us with the best tools and key ingredients to address challenges in phosphatase drug discovery, and unlock this rich target class. We are excited to be part of Anavo and their mission.” 

Simone Botti, Junior Partner at INKEF Capital, added: “The progress that has been made with SHP2 in our industry has revived the phosphatase sector but is only scratching the surface of this largely untapped attractive molecular target class. We are very pleased to support Anavo, a company poised to deliver first-in-class therapeutics in oncology and establish itself as a world leader in phosphatase drug discovery.”

Therese Liechtenstein and Simone Botti will be joined by Sakae Asanuma, President and CEO of Taiho Ventures, and Debora Dumont, Managing Partner at Bioqube Ventures, on Anavo’s Board of Directors.

Source: Anavo Therapeutics (Press release)

Averis Seeds B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Avebe, will be working together with the hybrid potato breeding company Solynta on the hybrid breeding of starch potato varieties. Hybrid breeding facilitates significantly faster development of new sustainable potato varieties compared to conventional breeding.

Hybrid breeding is an important accelerator for making starch potato cultivation more sustainable because it allows for a faster response to challenges such as changing weather conditions and potato diseases that constantly adapt to resistances. Growing better varieties faster reduces the need for crop protection products, and yields can be increased while using fertilisers more effectively. Johan Hopman, Breeding & Research Manager at Averis, is pleased with the collaboration: “Now that we can see the successful results of hybrid breeding, the time has come to use this technique for breeding starch potato varieties as well.”

Hybrid breeding

For over twelve years, Solynta has been working on obtaining Hybrid True Potato Seed: a technical revolution that enables faster breeding.Hybrid breeding makes it possible to better control the progress of varietal properties.Naturally occurring properties such as resistance to drought, pests and diseases can be quickly introgressed. Theresult is a significantly shorter development process and faster progress with the properties that are of value to Avebe’sgrowers.

Director Research & Development Edwin van der Vossen of Solynta: “This collaboration brings together Averis’ specific knowledge of properties and genetics for starch potato cultivation with Solynta’s hybrid breeding platform, creating a continuous stream of ever-improving varieties for Avebe’s growers.”

Source: Solynta (Press release)

Brightlands Venture Partners, a leading Dutch sustainability & health venture capital firm based in the south of the Netherlands, announces the first closing of its BVP Fund IV at € 45 million. This Fund IV capital raise allows Brightlands Venture Partners to increase its investing activities in renewable chemistry, regenerative medicine and agrifood. Four cornerstone investors, DSM Nederland, provincie Limburg, LIOF and Rabo Corporate Investments have joined BVP in the first closing. In addition, € 10 million has been committed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) for investments in the renewable chemistry space.

Positive impact
With its new fund, Brightlands Venture Partners will invest in startups and scaleups in the Netherlands, Belgium and North Rhine Westphalia, that will benefit from and contribute to the Brightlands ecosystem. To date, Brightlands Venture Partners has invested in some 40 companies developing innovative products and processes that address unmet needs in the areas of sustainability and health. The financial return so far is excellent, which demonstrates the positive impact of the Brightlands ecosystem on the chance of success and time to market for these innovative companies.

Reduction of carbon footprint & healthier living
In sustainability BVP demonstrated its strength by investing in Europe’s leading recycling companies QC Polymers (mechanical recycling of commodity plastics), Ioniqa Technologies (chemical upcycling of PET), Black Bear Carbon and Fuenix (pyrolysis of used tyres and of mixed plastic waste). In health, important innovations have been made by e.g. Neuroplast (treatment of paraplegia), Triplemed (aortic aneurysmas) and Matisse Pharmaceuticals (sepsis).

Casper Bruens, Managing Partner of Brightlands Venture Partners, commented: “We are delighted with the continued commitment of DSM, provincie Limburg, LIOF and Rabobank and are extremely pleased with the € 10 mln commitment of RVO. This first closing is a firm basis; the fund will be open to additional professional investors who want to join us to make more impact. Brightlands means renewable chemistry, regenerative medicine, agrifood and related digital technologies, areas where such impact is most needed.”

Source: Brightlands Venture Partners (Press release)