- Financing led by Sanofi Ventures with participation from new investor Bpifrance (through its InnoBio 2 fund), and existing investors Khosla Ventures and Seventure Partners
- Funding expected to generate proof of concept clinical data in patients
PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Eligo Bioscience, a pioneering gene-editing company focused on addressing diseases driven by the expression of bacterial genes from the microbiome, has announced a successful $30 million Series B funding round, led by Sanofi Ventures. This infusion of capital, supported by new investor Bpifrance (through its InnoBio 2 fund), and existing backers Khosla Ventures and Seventure Partners (with Health For Life Capital™), propels Eligo towards becoming a clinical-stage biotech. Concurrent with this financing, Laia Crespo, Ph.D., Partner at Sanofi Ventures and Benoit Barteau, Investment Director at Bpifrance will join the board of directors.
“We are excited to lead this financing for Eligo and support the company as they move to the clinic,” said Laia Crespo, Ph.D., Partner at Sanofi Ventures. “We are impressed by the unique delivery and editing technologies that Eligo has developed, and we believe this will set the stage for Eligo to forge new paths in the application of in vivo gene-editing technologies.”
“We are delighted to welcome additional prominent healthcare investors to our existing syndicate. We feel this reflects the strong support for our vision and confirms the potential of Eligo to create a novel class of transformative genetic medicines,” said Xavier Duportet, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Eligo Bioscience. “This is a defining time for Eligo as this funding puts us in a strong position to make a significant leap in treating diseases by editing the genetic makeup of the human microbiome.”
This funding is earmarked for accelerating the development of Eligo’s flagship program, EB005, which targets moderate to severe acne vulgaris, an inflammatory disease that affects about 3% of the global population. The investment will fuel pre-IND and IND activities to achieve early human data readouts in a Ph1b/2a clinical trial. Additionally, it will facilitate Eligo’s expansion into other chronic diseases, including oncology.
Eligo stands at the forefront of a biotechnological revolution. By focusing on the in-vivo delivery of genetic cargoes to the microbiome, Eligo’s technology goes beyond traditional gene therapy and gene editing, expanding the range of addressable genetic targets. Through precise genetic modification within the human microbiome, this unique approach holds the promise of radically altering the course of numerous chronic and life-threatening diseases that are either triggered or driven by the expression of bacterial genes.
About Eligo Bioscience
Eligo Bioscience is the world leader in microbiome in-vivo gene editing and is advancing a highly differentiated pipeline of precision medicines to address unmet medical needs in immuno-inflammation, oncology, and infectious diseases driven by the expression of deleterious bacterial genes.
Eligo was founded by Luciano Marraffini (Professor at The Rockefeller University and cofounder of Intellia Therapeutics, Timothy Lu (Professor at MIT, and CEO at Senti Biosciences), Dr. David Bikard (Professor at Institut Pasteur) and Xavier Duportet. Eligo was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and received venture capital funding from Sanofi Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Bpifrance, and Seventure Partners.
About Sanofi Ventures
Sanofi Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Sanofi. Sanofi Ventures invests in early-stage biotech and digital health companies with innovative ideas and transformative new products and technologies of strategic interest to Sanofi. Among these areas are oncology, immunology, rare diseases, vaccines, potential cures in other core areas of Sanofi’s business footprint, and digital health solutions.
About Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures invests in companies that are bold, early and impactful. The firm was started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to provide venture assistance to entrepreneurs. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Khosla Ventures invests in a range of areas including AI, climate, sustainability, enterprise, consumer, fintech, digital health, medtech and diagnostics, therapeutics and frontier technology.
About Bpifrance and InnoBio 2
Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export).
InnoBio 2 is an investment fund dedicated to life sciences, managed by Bpifrance, which is also one of the LPs alongside Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda, Ipsen, Servier, BMS, European Fund of Investment and Pasteur Mutualité. InnoBio 2, with €203 million, aims to invest in companies developing innovative products and services, close to or in early clinical development, with the objective of bringing them until the clinical proof of concept. InnoBio 2 takes minority equity stake in companies and can lead or co-lead the investment rounds.
About Seventure Partners
Seventure Partners is a long term equity investor that actively supports innovative companies aiming at generating positive impacts on Humankind, Society, Sustainability and the Planet.
With €950m net commitments under management as of the end of 2022, Seventure is a leading venture capital firm in Europe investing since 1997 in innovative businesses with high growth potential in 2 main areas: (i) Life sciences and (ii) Digital technologies. With Health for Life Capital™ funds (€160m and €250m commitments respectively in 2 vehicles) and its co-investment funds, Seventure is a worldwide leader in microbiome investments with more than 20 microbiome companies in its portfolio to date.
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