Düssel­dorf, Germany, Decem­ber 9, 2020 — ARQIS advi­sed Emer­gence Thera­peu­tics AG, a Euro­pean life science startup, on its exten­ded follow-on seed finan­cing round. The capi­tal comes from a consor­tium of leading Euro­pean inves­tors, consis­ting of Bpifrance (through its Inno­Bio 2 Fund), Grün­der­fonds Ruhr, Heidel­berg Pharma Rese­arch GmbH, High-Tech Grün­der­fonds, idin­vest Part­ners, Kurma Part­ners and NRW.Bank. The follow-on seed round was led by High-Tech Grün­der­fonds and included support from the first pillar of the German government’s €2 billion package of measu­res for startups.

Jack Elands, CEO of Emer­gence Thera­peu­tics, said, “We are grateful for the contin­ued support from our inves­tors at this seed stage. Proceeds from the follow-on seed round will be used to advance our deve­lo­p­ment programs focu­sed on Nectin‑4 as a target protein — an incre­asingly important and clini­cally vali­da­ted thera­peu­tic target across a broad spec­trum of cancers. In addi­tion, the funding will enable us to acce­le­rate work on addi­tio­nal programs and expand our ADC tool­kit to include addi­tio­nal highly inno­va­tive linker payload technologies.”

Emer­gence Thera­peu­tics is a biophar­maceu­ti­cal company deve­lo­ping novel anti­­body-drug conju­ga­tes (ADCs) for the treat­ment of cancers with high unmet medi­cal need. Its lead program uses inno­va­tive linker and payload tech­no­logy to address Nectin‑4, an important and vali­da­ted target for a broad range of cancers. In addi­tion, the company is actively explo­ring and deve­lo­ping oppor­tu­ni­ties to deve­lop addi­tio­nal best- or first-in-class ADCs based on thera­peu­tic need. Emer­gence is based in Duis­burg, Germany, and has a subsi­diary in Marseille, France.

The ARQIS team led by part­ner Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der alre­ady star­ted advi­sing Emer­gence Thera­peu­tics in 2019, when the startup was foun­ded via a colla­bo­ra­tion between (inter alia) the Univer­sity of Marseille and Heidel­berg Pharma AG. As a result, the firm orga­ni­zed the prece­ding finan­cing round.

Advi­sor Emer­gence Thera­peu­tics: ARQIS Attor­neys at Law

Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der (Lead; Tran­sac­tions; Düssel­dorf), Dr. Mauritz von Einem (Tax Law); Asso­ciate: Louisa Theresa Graf (Tran­sac­tions; both Munich)
Niit­väli (Frank­furt): Evelyn Niit­väli (Anti­trust)

About ARQIS

ARQIS Attor­neys at Law is an inde­pen­dent busi­ness law firm opera­ting in Germany and Japan. The firm was foun­ded in 2006 in Düssel­dorf, Munich and Tokyo. Around 55 profes­sio­nals advise dome­stic and foreign compa­nies at the highest level on German and Japa­nese busi­ness law. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.arqis.com.