GNA Biosolutions closes new financing round
GNA Biosolutions Closes $13.5 million Series C Financing Round Backed by a US/EU consortium
Munich, Germany, August 6, 2019 – GNA Biosolutions GmbH, a molecular diagnostics company based in Germany, announced today that it has completed a $13.5 million round of financing. Funding will finance further development and IVD-CE marking of the company’s first molecular POC (Point of Care) platform, based on Pulse Controlled Amplification (PCA) technology. The Series C financing round was joined by new investors including GreyBird Ventures, Occident, and Wachtumsfonds Bayern, and existing investors UVC Partners, SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Mey Capital Matrix, KfW, and btov Partners. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance development and secure IVD-CE marking of GNA’s first Point of Care molecular diagnostic platform.GNA Biosolutions has pioneered a next generation nucleic acid amplification technology (Pulse Controlled Amplification – PCA) in the field of molecular diagnostics. The company’s PCA platform amplifies nucleic acids captured directly from complex samples such as whole blood, sputum, and nasal swabs within minutes, without the need for additional sample preparation and with minimal hands-on time.
“We are excited to work with the GNA team and look forward to supporting this stage of the company. Rapid molecular diagnostics are key to patient care across an increasingly broad range of therapeutic areas, and particularly infectious diseases. We believe PCA technology will resolve many limitations of existing molecular diagnostics, enabling fast therapeutic decisions that improve patient care,” said Tom Miller, partner at GreyBird Ventures, lead investor for the round. Mr. Miller, a global healthcare industry leader, and an experienced and visionary CEO, will serve as Chairman of GNA’s Board effective immediately.
“We are very appreciative of the enthusiastic response from our new investors and the continued support of our existing consortium. This Series C funding will help us execute our regulatory strategy and bring PCA to the clinic,” said Federico Buersgens, co-founder and Managing Director of GNA Biosolutions. GNA plans to launch its POC platform first in the EU, followed by the US. “We believe having this unique combination of European and US investors on board gives GNA an edge – we have assembled a great consortium which will provide us not only with a tremendous depth of experience but also visibility and access to decision-makers across our key launch markets,” said Mr. Buersgens.
GNA’s breakthrough technology allows the development of cost-effective and simple-to-perform molecular diagnostic tests. The company’s prototype platform has been utilized in more than 30 assays in-house and with partners, including assays for Hospital Acquired Infections and Tuberculosis, and biothreats such as Ebola and Plague.
GNA is the winner of AACC’s 2018 Disruptive Technology Award and a Showcase Company in the 2019 MedTech Innovator Competition.
About GNA Biosolutions
GNA Biosolutions is a private molecular diagnostics company located in Germany. Our proprietary PCA technology offers a novel, ultrafast, and cost-effective molecular diagnostic platform that captures and amplifies nucleic acids from complex clinical samples. PCA assays are being developed for a number of therapeutic areas, including infectious diseases and biothreats.
The company’s first Point of Care product will be utilized for the diagnosis of antibiotic resistant Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) and Tuberculosis (TB). PCA technology has not been cleared or approved by European of U.S. regulatory agencies and is currently for research use only.
About UVC Partners:
Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners) is a Munich-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology-based startups in the areas of industrial technologies, enterprise software and mobility. The fund typically invests between € 0.5 – 3m initially and up to € 12m in total per company.
Portfolio companies benefit from the extensive investment and exit experience of the management team as well as from the close cooperation with UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading innovation and business creation center. With over 200 employees and more than 100 industry partners, UnternehmerTUM can draw from many years of experience in establishing young companies. This cooperation enables UVC Partners to offer startups unique access to talent, industry customers, and other financial partners. The portfolio includes investments such as FlixBus, Carjump (Free2Move), KONUX, Blickfeld, 3YOURMIND and Vimcar.
