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November 30, 2006
ERA BIOTECH CONCLUDES €1.4M FINANCING ROUND
ERA Biotech to accelerate bioproductivity development strategy
Barcelona, November 30, 2006 -
ERA Biotech, a bioproductivity company improving the manufacture of
recombinant proteins in cultured cells, announced today that it has
concluded a €1,4M financing.
Invertec, Reus Capital Riesgo, Talde Capial II and Uninvest each
invested 300k in convertible loans to lead the round, which also
included participation by individuals and entities close to the company.
“Bioproducts are at the vanguard of the health, industrial and energy
sectors, and the scale and efficiency of manufacturing still lag
demand” explained François Arcand, ERA’s CEO. “Our investors recognized
that ERA Biotech is creating innovative solutions that directly improve
the bottom lines of billion-dollar businesses”.
ERA Biotech will use the funds to continue the commercial deployment of
its bioproductivity manufacturing solutions, to augment the downstream
processing gains they deliver, and to initiate the development of
proprietary products.
ERA Biotech foresees a €5M series « A » round for 2007 (www.erabiotech.com).
About the Investors: Invertec
is a public venture fund that makes short-term capital investments in
seed phase technology-based companies. Invertec's shareholders are the
CIDEM (Generalitat de Catalunya) and eight university groups from
Catalunya.
Reus Capital de Negocis SCR,SA is a VC from the city of Reus
(Catalunya) supporting SMEs with innovative projects and strong
entrepreneurial spirit. The main shareholders are businesspersons and
the municipality of Reus.
Founded in 1977, the Talde Group (Bilbao) pioneered venture capital
management in Spain. It has taken holdings and invested over €120M in
more than 135 businesses. In 2006, Talde manages €140M from 4 funds,
including Talde Capital II.
Uninvest is a venture fund based in Santiago de Compostella and created
by 16 Universities and a national research institution (Centro Superior
de Investigaciones Cientificas - CSIC) to invest in the seed and
start-up phases of companies, mainly the technology- and
science-intensive spin-off of Spanish and Portuguese Universities.
Private capital provides 70% of its funds.
About ERA Biotech: ERA Biotech
is a bioproductivity company; it develops and commercializes the
proprietary Zera® and StorPro™ tools that enable performance gains for
cell-based factories. Founded in 2002, ERA employs 10 scientists and
managers in Barcelona, Spain, one of the most rapidly growing world
commercial centers with ready access to Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The private company is owned by its founders, BCN Empren (a seed-stage
Barcelona-based VC), Advancell (a Barcelona-based biotech) and its CEO,
François Arcand.
About Zera® and StorPro™: Zera®
assembler peptides and StorPro™ designed storage organelles are
breakthrough technologies that improve the way cell factories
accumulate and store recombinant proteins. This enhancement both
enables high titers (including labile and cytotoxic peptide/proteins)
and creates opportunities for cost-efficient recovery of protein
products. The versatility of ERA’s technologies has been demonstrated
so far in a variety of mammalian, insect and plant cell culture
systems, as well as in plant and animal transgenics. ERA-enabled
product opportunities under investigation include biodrugs, oral and
injectable vaccines, highly potent enzymes for bioenergy applications,
and other protein-based prospects in the health, industrial and
nutrition sectors.
For further information please contact:
François Arcand, MBA, CEO of ERA Biotech
farcand |at| erabiotech.com + 34 93 40 34 773 (Barcelona, España)
Para recibir una versión en español: mgonzalez |at| erabiotech.com
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