STipe Therapeutics Secures €20 Million Series A Financing Led by Novo Holdings and Arix Bioscience to Advance Novel STING Pathway Therapies

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that STipe Therapeutics recently completed a €20 million Series A financing round. The round was led by Novo Holdings A/S and Arix Bioscience plc, with participation from Wellington Partners and Sunstone.

STipe Therapeutics was spun out from the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University in Denmark in 2018, with the aim of developing stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonists. STING is a key driver of innate immunity and a modulator of tumorigenesis and autoimmune diseases. Initially funded by Novo Seeds’ internal venture program and supported by a pre-seed grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, STipe Therapeutics was one of the first startups incubated by the BioInnovation Institute (BII), an initiative launched by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. This new financing reinforces Novo Seeds’ commitment to founding biotechnology companies and demonstrates how it collaborates synergistically with BII to grow early-stage biotech ventures.

Morten Graugaard Døssing, Partner at Novo Seeds, commented: “Novo Seeds’ strategy is to identify, build, and invest in innovative companies founded on the world’s best science, with local establishment. STipe Therapeutics serves as an excellent example, as it modulates the STING pathway in a novel and truly differentiated manner, thereby addressing the major limitations of first-generation direct STING agonists, which may deliver meaningful benefits to patients. It has been my privilege to work alongside the founding team of STipe over the past three years of its incubation phase, and we congratulate the company on this significant milestone. We look forward to continuing this exciting journey together with new investors Arix, Sunstone, and Wellington.”

Dr. Claus, CEO of STipe Therapeutics, commented, “The successful financing underscores the potential of our innovative technologies and product pipeline. We are deeply grateful for the support we have received from Novo Seeds and BII since our incubation three years ago, and we look forward to leveraging their extensive experience, along with that of our new investors, in developing a diverse portfolio of oncology products.”

Jens Nielsen, CEO of the BioInnovation Institute, added, “Our goal is to incubate exciting academic research projects and provide entrepreneurs with the right assistance, networking, and business support. STEP Therapeutics is the first company to emerge from the BioInnovation Institute, demonstrating how we help and support early-stage life science innovations for the benefit of society.”

Novo Holdings A/S is a privately held limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. As the holding and investment company of the Novo Group, which comprises Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, it is responsible for managing the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Recognized as a leading international investor in the life sciences sector, Novo Holdings focuses on creating long-term value. In its capacity as a life sciences investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to companies in the development stage and holds significant ownership positions in both growth-stage and mature companies. Additionally, Novo Holdings manages a broad and diversified portfolio of financial assets.

BioInnovation Institute (BII) is an international, research-based initiative fostering innovation and entrepreneurship across all stages of life sciences startups. Located in Copenhagen, Denmark, BII provides 2,300 square meters of state-of-the-art laboratory and office facilities, business acceleration programs, startup incubation, commercial support, unique financing opportunities, and access to expert mentorship and international networks for startups in the medical technology, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. BII is an initiative of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

(Compiled by Tan Jiulin)