Press releases
Themis Bioscience GmbH (www.themisbio.com), an Austrian start-up biotechnology company developing novel vaccines against emerging infectious diseases with high unmet medical need announced the closing of a €5 million Series A Financing round co-led by Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Ventech.
The investment will be used to expedite the pre-clinical and clinical development activities for Themis’ lead product candidates, a Dengue and a Chikungunya Fever vaccine. Both vaccine candidates have demonstrated promising preclinical data. They are based on a novel vaccine vector technology that was initially developed at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, with which Themis collaborates.
“We are delighted to welcome Ventech and Crédit Agricole Private Equity as investors in our company. This investment will allow us to move our development projects forward at full speed and to demonstrate clinical proof-of-concept”, states Erich Tauber, CEO of Themis Bioscience.
“Themis is to develop a new generation of vaccines for emerging diseases, based on a highly promising technology and an experienced core team” adds Bruno Montanari, Director at Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s Venture Capital team.
“We are convinced that Themis and its technology platform have great potential to deliver very promising vaccine candidates that will already at early clinical stage put the company into an ideal position to become an attractive licensing partner for major pharmaceutical companies”, commented Karl Naegler, General Partner at Ventech.
Themis Bioscience was founded in Vienna in 2009 and received seed financing by the academic business incubator INiTS, the austria wirtschaftsservice (aws) and The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
Contacts
Bruno Montanari, Director, Venture Capital, Crédit Agricole Private Equity
Erich Tauber, CEO, Themis Bioscience
Karl Naegler, General Partner, Ventech
Investors’ advisors
Jakob Kisser, Schönherr Rechtsanwälte gmbh
Press Contacts
Crédit Agricole Private Equity, Martine Sessin Caracci, + 33 1 43 23 90 88, martine.sessincaracci@ca-privateequity.fr
Shan, Caroline Babouillard, + 33 1 44 50 58 72, caroline.babouillard@shan.fr
About Crédit Agricole Private Equity
Crédit Agricole Private Equity is an AMF-accredited asset-management subsidiary of Crédit Agricole, specialising in direct private-equity investment in non-listed companies. As multi-specialist player, Crédit Agricole Private Equity’s team of 100 professionals manages €3.3 billion with specific expertise in LBO & Expansion, Venture Capital, Mezzanine, Co-Investment, Renewable Energy and PPP Infrastructure. The 11-strong venture capital team manages €470 million through FCPIs invested in young companies with high growth potential in 2 sectors: information technology and life sciences. Crédit Agricole Private Equity has signed up to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
About Themis Bioscience
Themis Bioscience is a start-up biotechnology company developing vaccines to prevent infectious diseases. The company’s development focus is concentrated on emerging and specialist indications, advancing promising vaccines from preclinical to late-stage clinical development phases.
The company aims to exploit the increasing licensing and acquisition trend on the vaccine market to generate value by developing and partnering its technology programs and vaccine candidates. Themis’ core lead technology, Themaxyn™ - a highly novel, patent-protected, and innovative vaccine platform which originates from the world-leading Institut Pasteur - will be used to create novel vaccines. The Company’s first vaccine targets are emerging tropical and travelers diseases, including dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever virus, and there is clear potential to expand the Themaxyn™ technology to further indications. Themis was founded in September 2009 and is based in Vienna, Austria. www.themisbio.com
