Colo­gne — NRW.BANK is inves­t­ing in CEVEC Phar­maceu­ti­cals GmbH via NRW.Venture as part of a growth finan­cing round. The Colo­­gne-based company is active in the gene therapy market and is a leading provi­der of tech­no­lo­gies for the produc­tion of biophar­maceu­ti­cals. The invest­ment is inten­ded to expand capa­ci­ties for the growing gene therapy market.

“Gene thera­pies have become an important future market in phar­maceu­ti­cals and biotech­no­logy,” says Dr. Aris­to­te­lis Nastos, Team Leader Life Scien­ces / Venture Capi­tal at NRW.BANK and member of the Advi­sory Board of CEVEC Phar­maceu­ti­cals GmbH “The poten­tial for tech­no­lo­gies such as those offe­red by CEVEC is enorm­ous and we are plea­sed to be part of this finan­cing round and to support the company’s further growth.”

Gene thera­pies are being deve­lo­ped for dise­a­ses such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, among others, leading to a high demand for produc­tion capa­city. CEVEC offers phar­maceu­ti­cal compa­nies modern manu­fac­tu­ring solu­ti­ons here. To address the growing market, the company plans to use the funds from the finan­cing round to expand its capacity.

NRW.BANK has held a stake in CEVEC Phar­maceu­ti­cals GmbH since 2009 and has been support­ing the company with its network and capi­tal ever since. Through NRW.Venture, it supports start-ups and young compa­nies from North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia in the deve­lo­p­ment and marke­ting of inno­va­tive tech­no­lo­gies and busi­ness models and the rapid expan­sion of their business.

About NRW.Venture

NRW.Venture is the venture fund of NRW.BANK, the deve­lo­p­ment bank for North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia. It supports its owner, the state of NRW, in its struc­tu­ral and econo­mic policy tasks. To this end, NRW.BANK uses a wide range of deve­lo­p­ment instru­ments: from low-inte­­rest deve­lo­p­ment loans to equity finan­cing and consul­ting services. With NRW.Venture, it supports start-ups in the deve­lo­p­ment and marke­ting of inno­va­tive tech­no­lo­gies and busi­ness models and the rapid expan­sion of their busi­ness. NRW.BANK invests up to ten million euros in such compa­nies over seve­ral finan­cing rounds — toge­ther with private-sector inves­tors. www.nrwbank.de/venture