Tubulis has completed a financing round of 308 million euros. This is said to be the largest Series C financing of a European biotech company and the largest round globally for a private ADC developer.
The round was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. New investors such as Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital, as well as existing investors including Nextech Invest, EQT Life Sciences, Frazier Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Deep Track Capital, Bayern Kapital, Fund+, Occident, Seventure Partners, and the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) also participated.
ADCs represent a form of treatment for cancer that attacks cancer cells more specifically than many commonly used therapeutics. Additionally, they do not damage surrounding tissue because the active ingredient is combined with an antibody that can distinguish cancer cells from healthy cells. This allows ADCs to fight cancer not only more precisely and efficiently, but also significantly reduce side effects. Previous ADCs often lost much of their active ingredients before reaching the tumor cell. Tubulis’s ADCs deliver these more reliably to their target.
Tubulis: focus on clinical development
With the fresh capital, the company plans to accelerate the clinical development of its leading ADC candidate TUB-040. The active ingredient targets an antigen that is overexpressed in ovarian cancer and lung adenocarcinomas. Furthermore, the startup founded in 2019 wants to expand its pipeline with additional candidates such as TUB-030. Additionally, the funds flow into the further development of Tubulis’s technology platform to develop additional, flexibly adaptable ADC variants.
“This significant financing round underscores the confidence of our international, industry-specific investor consortium and equally represents the disruptive potential of our ADC platform. With current progress in the development of TUB-040 and initial data on this candidate, we are ready to expand it into further treatment lines while continuing to build out our candidate pipeline and technology platform. The financing round enables us to realize our vision of developing differentiated ADCs tailored to the respective tumor indication and with the potential to provide patients with high therapeutic added value”,
says Dominik Schumacher, CEO and co-founder of Tubulis.
Bayern Kapital first invested in the biotech startup in 2020 and continues in its role as an existing investor. Monika Steger, managing director of Bayern Kapital, emphasizes:
“Tubulis is not only technically interesting to us, but also exemplifies Bayern Kapital’s capabilities: we invest in early stages, remain on board as anchor investors long-term, and support high-tech and deep-tech companies like Tubulis through to internationally visible mega-rounds. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the excellent founding team and a high-caliber investor consortium.”
Frank Hensel, Principal at HTGF, comments:
“Our relationship with Tubulis has always been based on trust and a shared goal of redefining cancer treatment. This latest financing round, supported by leading global investors, confirms the strength of the platform and the team. We are proud to continue supporting Tubulis as the company enters a critical phase of clinical development.”
