BC Platforms Closes USD $10 Million Series B Financing led by Debiopharm and Tesi to Accelerate Knowledge Platform Development

BASEL and LAUSANNE, Switzerland and HELSINKI, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading Big Data company developing platform with clinical and genomic data from 5 million subjects, to transform drug development and bring clinical benefits to patients  

BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management solutions, today announces that it has closed a $USD 10 million financing round. The round was led by Debiopharm Innovation Fund in conjunction with Tesi, a Finnish venture capital and private equity company, and was supported by BC Platforms' existing investors.

BC Platforms will use the funds to launch new technologies in 2017 integrating complex clinical and genomic data in order to deliver precision medicine and clinical patient benefits, as well as to grow its existing genomic data management software business worldwide.

To date, the company has established partnerships with over 50 enterprise level Healthcare units and biobanks globally in 19 countries representing more than 2 million subjects.

BC Platforms' vision is to provide the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry, with access by 2020 to over 5 million subjects' diverse genomic and clinical data and samples consolidated from a global network of biobanks. Biobanks are organized repositories of human biological material and associated data stored for research purposes. BC Platforms partners with biobanks to aggregate these data for analysis to provide transformative solutions for customers across all therapeutic areas and along the entire product development life cycle.

Tero Silvola, CEO at BC Platforms, said: 'We are delighted to have been supported by Debiopharm Innovation Fund and Tesi in this new financing round. This funding will enable us to progress to our next stage of expansion and to launch our new knowledge based solutions for R&D customers worldwide. Debiopharm's experience in drug development will provide us with invaluable insight as we launch this major new initiative.'

Tanja Dowe, Head of Debiopharm Innovation Fund, said: "We see big data as a core asset in research and development. We are excited to have invested in BC Platforms and look forward to working with them to unlock the potential of big data to dramatically improve R&D productivity and provide clinical benefits to patients. BC Platforms fits directly with our fund's vision to invest in innovative companies that change the way we develop drugs and treat patients.

Joni Karsikas, Investment Manager at Tesi, commented: 'We are dedicated supporters of innovation and believe that health technology is going to be a key growth opportunity for Finland. We are very pleased to be supporting BC Platforms, who are a leader in the field of genomic data management, in their next stage of transformative growth.'

About BC Platforms 

BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic data management solutions to address some of the biggest healthcare challenges today by leveraging the convergence of genomics and healthcare information technologies. Our high performing genomic data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. BC Platforms' vision is to revolutionize decision making in drug development to bring clinical benefits to patients. Founded in 1997, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors.

We currently provide solutions to over 50 leading international institutions in 19 countries including top-tier academic and hospital research groups, major pharmaceutical and agricultural companies.  Our management team consists of industry leaders with over 100 years of combined experience in life sciences, computational biology and industrial technology.  BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, research and development located in Helsinki, Finland, and sales and marketing based in London, Boston, and Vancouver. For more information, please visit http://www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms.

About Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA 

Part of Debiopharm Group™ - a Swiss-headquartered global biopharmaceutical group including five companies active in the life science areas of drug development, GMP manufacturing of proprietary drugs, diagnostic tools and investment management - Debiopharm Innovation Fund's mission is to invest in companies developing innovative therapeutics, diagnostics and smart data solutions that change the way we develop drugs and treat patients. Since 2008, the company has invested nearly USD 100 million and led 10 out of the 14 last investment rounds in its portfolio companies.
For more information, please visit http://www.debiopharm.com 

We are on Twitter. Follow us @DebiopharmNews at http://twitter.com/DebiopharmNews

About Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) 

Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a venture capital and private equity company that accelerates companies' success stories by investing in them directly and via funds. Tesi always invests together with other investors, providing them with access to high quality deal flow in Finland. Our investments under management total 1 billion euros and we have altogether 723 companies in portfolio. http://www.tesi.fi | @TesiFII

BC Platforms Contact
Tero Silvola
CEO
tero.silvola@bcplatforms.com
Tel. +358-40-590-5733
   
Citigate Dewe Rogerson Contact
Katja Stout
katja.stout@citigatedr.co.uk
Tel. +44-20-7282-1066    

Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA Contact
Tanja Dowe
Head of Debiopharm Innovation Fund SA
tanja.dowe@debiopharm.com
Tel. +41(0)21-321-01-11
   
Debiopharm Group Contact
Giuseppe Melillo
Press & Public Relations Officer
giuseppe.melillo@consultant.debiopharm.com
Tel: +41(0)79-271-04-95