Group Works

Myricx Bio's £90M Series A: A Venture Capital Triumph for European Biotech

09/09/2024, 12:00

5 minutes

In an un­prece­dented mile­stone for Eu­ro­pean biotech, Myricx Bio, a London-based can­cer ther­apy startup, has closed a re­mark­able £90 mil­lion ($114 mil­lion) Se­ries A fund­ing round. This record-breaking in­vest­ment rep­re­sents one of the largest early-stage in­vest­ments in a Eu­ro­pean aca­d­e­mic biotech spin­out, cap­tur­ing the at­ten­tion of global in­vestors and sig­nalling a piv­otal mo­ment for ven­ture cap­i­tal (VC) in Eu­rope.

A Clear Vote of Confidence from Top-Tier Investors

The Se­ries A round was spear­headed by two of the most re­spected names in life sci­ences VC—Novo Hold­ings and Abing­worth—both known for back­ing high-impact biotech star­tups. They were joined by a pres­ti­gious group of co-investors, which in­cludes:

  • British Patient Capital, demonstrating public sector support for innovative healthcare ventures.
  • Cancer Research Horizons, reflecting the nonprofit's trust in Myricx’s potential to contribute to cancer research.
  • Eli Lilly, highlighting Big Pharma’s commitment to groundbreaking biotech developments.
  • Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners, both returning investors, a testament to the company’s progress since earlier funding rounds.

The wide ar­ray of stake­hold­ers in­volved, from tra­di­tional VCs to global phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal play­ers, un­der­scores the broad ap­peal and po­ten­tial of Myricx’s sci­ence. This align­ment of in­ter­ests be­tween di­verse in­vestors is rare and is a re­sound­ing en­dorse­ment of the dis­rup­tive po­ten­tial Myricx Bio of­fers the on­col­ogy space.

Changing the Face of European Biotech Funding

Tra­di­tion­ally, Eu­ro­pean biotechs have faced sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges when rais­ing large-scale fi­nanc­ing com­pared to their Amer­i­can coun­ter­parts. How­ever, Myricx’s Se­ries A chal­lenges that no­tion head-on.

This record-breaking round show­cases the im­mense po­ten­tial of Eu­ro­pean biotech. It's a clear sig­nal that world-class in­no­va­tion from UK in­sti­tu­tions can at­tract sub­stan­tial ven­ture cap­i­tal, com­pet­ing on a global stage.

For VCs, this deal is not just about one com­pany—it’s about trans­form­ing per­cep­tions of Eu­rope’s biotech sec­tor. Ven­ture cap­i­tal in Eu­rope has of­ten been viewed as more risk-averse than in the US. But the suc­cess of Myricx Bio demon­strates that with the right tech­nol­ogy, Eu­ro­pean star­tups can at­tract size­able fund­ing, sig­nalling a shift in how Eu­ro­pean biotechs are val­ued and sup­ported.

Pioneering Science Meets Venture Capital Enthusiasm

One of the main rea­sons Myricx Bio at­tracted such high-profile in­vestors is the in­no­v­a­tive ap­proach they’re bring­ing to can­cer ther­apy. The com­pany's ground­break­ing work on antibody-drug con­ju­gates (ADCs) is at the fore­front of new treat­ment par­a­digms. Un­like many on­col­ogy plat­forms, Myricx’s tech­nol­ogy tar­gets N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), an en­zyme es­sen­tial for the growth of cer­tain can­cer cells.

This unique mech­a­nism of ac­tion pro­vides a fresh av­enue for can­cer treat­ment, which has cap­ti­vated ven­ture cap­i­tal­ists look­ing for high-potential bets in the crowded on­col­ogy space.

This in­vest­ment, has po­ten­tial to re­shape the land­scape of can­cer ther­apy. The strong sup­port from ven­ture cap­i­tal part­ners en­ables them to push the bound­aries of what's pos­si­ble in ADC de­vel­op­ment.

From a ven­ture cap­i­tal per­spec­tive, the po­ten­tial re­turns on in­vest­ment are vast. ADCs have shown enor­mous promise as next-generation can­cer treat­ments, and a plat­form that could fun­da­men­tally im­prove their pre­ci­sion and ef­fec­tive­ness is a golden op­por­tu­nity. The in­no­v­a­tive edge and po­ten­tial scal­a­bil­ity of Myricx’s work makes it an at­trac­tive prospect for in­vestors keen on trans­for­ma­tive sci­ence.

Scaling Up: From Idea to Impact

For ven­ture cap­i­tal­ists, Myricx’s Se­ries A in­vest­ment goes be­yond back­ing novel sci­ence—it’s about fu­elling ex­po­nen­tial growth. The in­flux of cap­i­tal will al­low the com­pany to sig­nif­i­cantly scale its op­er­a­tions, turn­ing cutting-edge aca­d­e­mic re­search into market-ready ther­a­pies. Here’s how the fund­ing will be utilised:

  1. Team Expansion: From a current headcount of just four, Myricx plans to increase its team to around 15 full-time employees. This will add critical expertise across R&D, regulatory affairs, and business development, all key areas for startups transitioning from discovery to development stages.
    1. Establishing R&D Facilities: The company will set up in-house R&D laboratories in London, providing the infrastructure needed to accelerate research into clinical trials.
    1. Advancing Clinical Programs: Two lead programs are expected to enter clinical trials, with the first Phase 1 trial targeted for early 2026. Investors are particularly eager about the projected timeline for proof-of-concept data in 2027 and 2028, milestones that could dramatically increase Myricx’s valuation and set the stage for future fundraising rounds or strategic partnerships.

    Catalysing European Biotech and Venture Capital Ecosystems

    Myricx’s suc­cess has im­pli­ca­tions far be­yond the com­pany it­self. It rep­re­sents a cat­a­lyst for the broader Eu­ro­pean biotech ecosys­tem, demon­strat­ing that sub­stan­tial early-stage ven­ture cap­i­tal can be suc­cess­fully raised for ground­break­ing life sci­ences in­no­va­tion. This sends a pow­er­ful sig­nal to both star­tups and in­vestors across Eu­rope that the re­gion is ready to sup­port world-class biotech ven­tures.

    For ven­ture cap­i­tal­ists, this in­vest­ment sets a new bench­mark for what’s pos­si­ble in Eu­ro­pean biotech. It proves that Eu­rope is ca­pa­ble of pro­duc­ing com­pa­nies with the sci­ence, lead­er­ship, and po­ten­tial to de­liver out­sized re­turns—fac­tors that tra­di­tion­ally at­tracted more in­vest­ment dol­lars to the US.

    The back­ing of global pharma gi­ant Eli Lilly also high­lights the grow­ing trend of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies work­ing more closely with early-stage biotechs, cre­at­ing new op­por­tu­ni­ties for VC-backed firms to ac­cess the re­sources and ex­per­tise needed for com­mer­cial suc­cess.

    A Positive Outlook for the Future

    As Myricx Bio moves for­ward, it car­ries the hopes not only of its in­vestors but also of the wider biotech and VC com­mu­ni­ties. This fund­ing round is about more than just cap­i­tal—it’s about cred­i­bil­ity, vis­i­bil­ity, and mo­men­tum. The com­pany’s suc­cess could pave the way for fur­ther VC in­vest­ments in Eu­ro­pean biotech, cre­at­ing a vir­tu­ous cy­cle of fund­ing, in­no­va­tion, and com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion.

    With this his­toric Se­ries A, Myricx Bio stands as a sym­bol of the po­ten­tial for Eu­ro­pean star­tups to make a global im­pact, at­tract­ing high-caliber in­vestors and blaz­ing a trail for oth­ers to fol­low. The in­ter­sec­tion of pi­o­neer­ing sci­ence and ven­ture cap­i­tal am­bi­tion makes this a mo­ment to cel­e­brate, not just for Myricx, but for Eu­ro­pean biotech as a whole.

    As we look to the fu­ture, it’s clear: Eu­ro­pean biotech is ready to play on the global stage, and ven­ture cap­i­tal is there to fuel that rise.

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