Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund is pleased to announce its portfolio company Flindr Therapeutics (previously Immagene), has raised €20 million in a Series A financing. This is not only a major milestone for the company but it also affirms the mission of the fund to support promising new ventures based on pioneering research at Oncode Institute’s through the first financing gap.
Flindr Therapeutics was founded in 2020 by Maarten Ligtenberg, Daniel Peeper and Christian Blank as a spin out of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and Oncode Institute with the aim to develop next-generation first in class small molecule inhibitors for cancer. Based on seminal findings of the Peeper and Blank laboratories at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, the company led by Maarten Ligtenberg as founding CEO with the support of Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund, embarked on a drug discovery campaign against novel targets identified by the ImmunoGram Drug Discovery Engine in hard-to-treat tumour indications. In addition to garnering support of industry veterans such as Allard Kaptein and Jac Wijkmans, Flindr has joined forces with Professor Rudi Beyaert at VIB, to leverage their deep expertise of immunology - including RNF31 biology - and development of animal cancer models.
“We’re incredibly proud to have been at the very start of Flindr Therapeutics with Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund and to have continued our active support to the company all the way to the current Series A round. It is a privilege being very close to the groundbreaking research at Oncode Institute and funding and supporting start-ups from the very beginning to optimally prepare them for larger investments required in the future” says Shobhit Dhawan, Fund Manager of Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund.
Flindr’s lead program is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of RNF31 (also known as HOIP), a protein-stabilizing E3 ubiquitin ligase which is aberrantly activated in solid and hematological malignancies. The company has already obtained highly promising activity for the drug candidate in preclinical ovarian cancer and B-cell lymphoma models, and identified biomarkers which will help select patients most likely to respond to treatment with RNF31 inhibitors.
“I am very excited about this Series A investment for Flindr Therapeutics. Among other activities it allows the company to advance its lead program, the development of a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of RNF31. This protein was previously identified in my laboratory at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in a genome-wide screen for new cancer therapeutic targets. It is highly gratifying to witness this fundamental discovery translate into the development of a novel anticancer drug. I am also thankful to Oncode Institute and Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund for their indispensable support, from the company’s inception to this Series A round” says Flindr Therapeutics co-founder and Oncode Investigator Daniel Peeper.
V-Bio Ventures led the current Series A investment round alongside other investors – JJDC, Inc., QBIC Fund, Flanders Future Tech Fund and Curie Capital, as well as the existing investors Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund, Swanbridge and BOM. Flindr will use the funds to progress its lead program and broaden its pipeline using its ImmunoGram discovery engine.
“This €20 million Series A financing will help us translate our precision targets into precision therapies, with the ultimate goal of potentially transforming the lives of patients with cancer. The backing of this highly regarded investor syndicate is a strong validation of our unique approach and the potential of our pipeline” says Maarten Ligtenberg, CEO and co-founder of Flindr Therapeutics.
Oncode Bridge Fund would like to thank KWF and RVO for their financial support.