01 Feb GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost invests €50,000 in the start-up Affirma Biotech
• Affirma Biotech develops immune system activation compounds for the treatment of infectious diseases.
• The €50,000 investment by GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost is the third investment in the Tech Transfer Boost vehicle and will enable further product development.
GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost (GTTB), an investment vehicle created in 2022 and managed by the consulting firm GENESIS Biomed, has made its third investment for a ticket of €50,000 in the biotech company Affirma Biotech.
Affirma Biotech was founded in 2020 by Maribel Berges and patented a family of novel immune-activating compounds in 2023. Since there are multiple infectious diseases that can benefit from treatment through immune system activation, these compounds can be used across a broad spectrum of indications. The first two, that the company is considering developing, are treatments for severe influenza and chronic hepatitis B. In the case of influenza, despite vaccination campaigns, the WHO estimates that annual deaths reach 650,000 patients. Chronic hepatitis B affects around 300 million patients worldwide and is the leading cause of liver cancer, killing up to 1 million people a year.
This GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost ticket, that is part of the closing of an investment round, is joined by other funding sources such as NEOTEC, a CDTI programme, and a public-private partnership project, representing a total of €1.75 million in funding to advance the development of its new broad-spectrum anti-infectives.
The closing of the investment round was led by Nara Capital and the company’s current partners, in particular BCN Peptides, Reig Jofre Investments and Alfons Hidalgo, with the participation of the GTTB vehicle, managed by GENESIS Biomed, and private investors through the Capital Cell platforms and its international partner Seedblink.
The GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost vehicle, an investment vehicle managed by the consulting firm GENESIS Biomed with an investment of €1.2M for the next 4 years, which aims to invest tickets of €25,000-100,000 in early-stage projects in the biomedical sector, has invested a total of €50,000 in Affirma Biotech and represents its third investment. According to Josep Lluís Falcó, director of GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost and co-founder and CEO of GENESIS Biomed, “Affirma represents a great bet for our portfolio of investee companies, developing new drugs to stimulate the immune system in the treatment of viral and bacterial infections. The participation of Nara Capital and relevant investors from the pharmaceutical sector highlights the potential of immunotherapy extending from oncology to other areas, such as infectious diseases. We are confident that a promising future lies ahead in this field“.
About:
Affirma Biotech
Affirma Biotech, headquartered in the Sant Pau Art Nouveau site, was founded in 2020 by Maribel Berges, an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the Biotech sector. In previous rounds the company obtained €1M of private investment and also the support of ACCIÓ through the Start-up Capital grant.
Affirma Biotech has been the beneficiary of a project subsidised by the CDTI with the collaboration of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and co-financed by the European Union – Next Generation EU. File number SNEO-20231066″.
The research project with CPP2021-008526 has been funded by AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.
GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost is an investment vehicle in Early-Stage projects established in 2022 for a total amount of €1M for 4 years and recently increased to €1.2M, managed by GENESIS Biomed, and with tickets of between €25,000 and €100,000.
The vehicle has the investment partners GENESIS Biomed, FI Group, Crowd4Ventures and PINONO S.L.
GENESIS Biomed is a consultancy firm operating in the biomedical sector specialising in the provision of services to start-up companies, mainly from universities, research centres, hospitals and technology centres. GENESIS Biomed is headquartered in Barcelona and has offices in Madrid and Valencia.