Animal health company focused on combatting viral infections in livestock
LEUVEN, Belgium, May 28th, 2020 — ViroVet NV, a leading Belgian biopharmaceutical company active in the development of innovative vaccines and antiviral drugs for livestock, is proud to announce that it has successfully concluded the first closing of its series B financing round, raising over 6 million euros. The financing will be used to further develop and launch its veterinary product portfolio. The investment round was led by Seventure Partners with participations from PMV, Biotech Fund Flanders, Capricorn Partners, Agri Investment Fund, KU Leuven, Gemma Frisius Fund and Vives II.
ViroVet pioneers in developing novel and innovative vaccines based on a unique proprietary technology platform originating from the Rega Institute for Medical Research of KU Leuven. With this technology platform, vaccines can be designed and produced faster and more cost-effectively. The vaccines are tailor-made and are thermostable thereby removing any cold-chain requirement.
The company also develops fast-acting antiviral drugs that are critical to the effective control and treatment of respiratory diseases of cattle and swine, thereby reducing secondary bacterial infections and the associated use of antibiotics. Following successful trials, the company has now entered full development of its BVD antiviral drug.
Erwin Blomsma, PhD, co-founder and CEO of ViroVet states that “We are gratified with the support of the investment community and in particular the network and expertise that Seventure Partners will bring to the table. As our first products are entering full development, exciting times are ahead.”
Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner at Seventure Partners: “We feel very enthusiastic about partnering with Erwin and the whole ViroVet team. Their experience in the sector and their extensive knowledge in the technology space will prove to be a winning combination to make ViroVet one of the leading innovators globally in the field of animal health.”
George Gunn, Chairman of the Board: “ViroVet has made excellent progress in bringing their vaccine and antiviral research projects into product development. This new injection of cash allows the team to bring these products to commercialization ultimately creating exciting new options in the control and treatment of viral diseases in farm animals.”
About ViroVet
ViroVet is a biopharmaceutical company with a clear objective to develop innovative technologies to improve the health and value of livestock. The company is headquartered in Heverlee near Leuven, Belgium and continues to build on the livestock assets and know-how that it has accumulated since 2008 while adding new products, including vaccines, to the pipeline.
About Seventure Partners
With 750 million euros under management (net commitments) as of December 31, 2018, Seventure Partners is one of Europe's leading players in innovation capital. Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been investing in innovative companies with high growth potential in two main areas of activity: digital technologies in France and Germany, and life sciences throughout Europe, Asia, Israel, and North America. Seventure Partners supports the development of companies from the initial financing stage and even as start-ups, to financing development-technology capital requirements, with investments ranging from €500K to 10 million euros per financing round, and up to 20 million euros per company. In 2018, Seventure Partners created AVF, an institutional venture-capital fund, to support innovative companies in animal health, food and nutrition. Seventure Partners is a subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers. Natixis is the financial services, management and financing bank of the BPCE Group.
For more details: http://www.seventure.fr/en
Twitter: @seventurep
More information
Dr. Erwin Blomsma, CEO ViroVet NV – eblomsma@virovet.com – Ambachtenlaan 1, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
Tel: +32 16 299 728 BE 0634.891.328 Web: www.virovet.com Twitter: @ViroVet