Leiden-based health tech startup BIMINI Biotech has successfully closed a €3 million seed funding round to drive its development of “first-in-class” therapeutics for haematological cancers
The round was led by San Diego-based Torrey Pines Investment (TPI), with the participation of InnovationQuarter Capital (IQC), Libertatis Ergo Holding (LEH) and a business angel.
The funding marks a significant milestone for the Leiden-based startup, enabling it to advance its preclinical programmes and scale its proprietary drug discovery platform.
Dr. Digvijay Gahtory, CEO of BIMINI Biotech: “We are excited to welcome this experienced group of investors and have the continued support of our existing shareholders that believe in the potential of our first-in-class WASp-modulators.”
Founded in 2019, BIMINI Biotech is a preclinical stage company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics in oncology with a focus on lymphomas and leukemia, malignancies with a strong unmet need.
BIMINI Biotech’s technology leverages a unique mode-of-action, by targeting Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome Protein (WASp) to inhibit cancer cell growth. WASp is an actin nucleation related protein expressed exclusively in hematopoietic cells. WASp has shown to play an important role in hematological tumor aggressiveness. BIMINI Biotech has a portfolio of WASp modulators that can be applied to different hematological cancers as well as autoimmune disorders. BIMINI Biotech has shown both in vitro and in vivo promising anti-cancer effects for different lymphoma and leukemia models.
Rouslan Michtchenko, Director of Strategic Partnering and Investment: “We are very pleased to support the team and exciting science behind BIMINI Biotech and see this European investment as another milestone of our strategic expansion in such high-impact research areas as hematology.”
The company’s approach offers an alternative to current treatment options, which often fall short in providing sustainable outcomes for patients.
Several lymphoma and leukemia subtypes are highly aggressive and associated with poor prognosis. Despite the use of newer agents, the relapse rates are still too high, with the diseases considered incurable in still too many patients. Since patients are mostly elderly with comorbidities, intensive induction or cell therapies cannot be offered.
If treatment fails, the availability of therapies becomes scarce. There is an unmet need for newer targeted agents with novel mechanisms of action to improve the current treatment paradigm.
Dr. Maurits van den Nieuwboer, COO BIMINI Biotech: “We have been talking to many clinicians and oncologists over these past years, and they all say the same: for aggressive leukemia and lymphoma subtypes, it is not a matter “if” patients relapse, but “when” patients relapse. As such there is still a dire need for novel therapeutic strategies. BIMINI Biotech can fill this gap. With this new investment round, we can really progress the development of our portfolio.”
The company will use the investment to accelerate the preclinical development of its WASp modulators and validate preclinical safety and efficacy.
BIMINI’s activities will be supported by the computer-aided drug design and the research expertise of Expert Systems, an accelerator platform equipped with a hybrid AI-based system that covers the spectrum of preclinical drug discovery and early development phases.
Linn Bäckegren-van Ingen, Investment manager IQC: “We are impressed by the dedication and expertise of the BIMINI team and look forward to seeing them take the next steps in this important journey. Therefore, we are excited to support BIMINI Biotech in their mission to improve outcomes for leukemia and lymphoma patients.“