Novo Seeds Provides Business Update

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jan. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Novo Seeds, the early stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings, today publishes its review of 2019 - a year of significant progress and growth. For more information, please see the Novo Seeds January 2020 Newsletter.

Along with the significant advances made by Novo Seeds portfolio companies, 2019 saw the team make five new investments. These included four new financings by the REPAIR Impact Fund bringing the total committed to date to USD 48 million. Novo Seeds also co-led the EUR 20 million Series A funding in STipe Therapeutics, a company that we created and incubated with the founder team to exploit the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway. 2019 also saw Novo Seeds strengthen its BiOrigin Entrepreneur-in-residence Advisory Unit with the appointment of seasoned CEOs as the team bolsters its activities in identifying, building and investing in exceptional life sciences start-ups.

In January 2020, Novo Seeds portfolio company and incubatee Galecto, developing galectin modulators for the treatment of fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and cancer announced a merger with PharmAkea, bringing together two clinical stage companies developing first-in-class therapeutics in fibrosis and cancer. In addition, portfolio company NorthSea Therapeutics, developing novel and innovative treatments of NASH (Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis) and other metabolic, inflammatory and fibrotic diseases raised $40 million (€36 million) in a Series B financing round.

Søren Møller, Managing Partner at Novo Seeds, commented: "2019 was a year of progress and growth. As one of the largest company creator teams in Europe, Novo Seeds mission is to identify breakthrough scientific discoveries globally and build life sciences companies locally with the aim of delivering innovative therapies and better treatment for patients. Galecto is an excellent example of Novo's investment strategy of 'sourcing globally and building locally' - first incubated through the pre-seed grant programme of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and subsequently Novo Seeds led the first seed investment round in 2011.

"The successes over the past year reflects the excellent work done by our growing team and the achievements across our portfolio of companies – all of which were showcased at the Annual Novo Seeds Summit, which brought together our portfolio companies, investors, and pharma executives to discuss how to build winning teams and successful biotech businesses, as well as Novo's role in shaping the ecosystem."

Novo Seeds investment strategy enables the team to build life sciences companies and attract international investors to significant financing rounds needed to bring them to real inflection points. From a financial perspective the team invests up to €20 million per company supporting portfolio companies to an exit.

About Novo Holdings A/S

Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding and investment company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation's assets.

Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: http://www.novoholdings.dk