Poietis, a bioprinting leader, announces that it has closed a €5 million Series A financing round to accelerate technological developments that could lead to the first implantation of a bioprinted tissue into patients from 2021. This successful operation has been carried out through a new crowdfunding fundraising on WiSEED platform, the investment by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Coinvestment Fund as well as granting of non-dilutive funding obtained as part of the Worldwide Innovation Challenge.
Pessac and Toulouse, France ; March 27th 2018 – Poietis, which has gained an internationally recognized position in the field of bioprinting by establishing partnerships with leading industrial groups as BASF and L’Oréal and by recently starting the sales of the first commercially-available bioprinted tissue, announces the closing of a second round of financing. This €5m Series A round is mainly done through a new crowdfunding fund-raising on WiSEED platform, investment by the Nouvelle Aquitaine Co-investment Fund as well as the granting of non-dilutive funding obtained in the framework of the Phase 2 of the worldwide Innovation Challenge (« personalized medicine » call).
Poietis is thus endowed with financial resources that will enable the company to accelerate its technological developments aimed at making its technology compatible with regulatory requirements and the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). The goal will be to ensure the reproducibility, standardization and traceability of the tissue manufacturing process while ensuring the biological safety of bioprinted tissues. Consequently, bioprinted tissues could be implanted into patients from 2021. Poietis expectation is to consolidate its leadership and to take a significant part of the 3D bioprinting market, estimated at nearly 800 million in 2022 and 2.5 billion in 2024 (source).
Fabien Guillemot, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Poietis, stated: « We are proud of the confidence shown by our historical investors who have been with us almost since inception (WiSEED and business angels) and the investment by NACO. The funds will allow to respond to one of the main regenerative medicine challenges through the development of tissue manufacturing solutions based on bioprinting for clinical purpose« .
Bruno Brisson, Poietis co-founder and VP Business Development, comments: « After having developed the skin bio-printing applications for the dermo-cosmetic industry, we will be able, thanks to this fundraising, to reinforce our activities into regenerative medicine and target other organs than skin, such as the liver, in collaboration with university hospital centers« .
Louise Chopinet, Responsible of Health Projects at WiSEED, added: « For the second time we achieved a record collection on WiSEED with 1.1M € collected from 1029 private investors. A renewed success after a first round of € 1M in 2015 thanks to the performance of the Poietis team in achieving its objectives, which guarantees the trust given by our investors. Poietis answers important challenges in the medical sector, and we are proud to support its development« .
Bernard Estienne, Director of Aquiti Gestion, who runs the NACO (New Aquitaine Co- Investment) fund, underlines: « NACO is very happy to be able to support a promising and jobcreating regional start-up. This operation is fully in line with the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region’s strategy to support innovative companies« .
About Poietis :
Poietis is a biotechnology company specialized in the manufacturing of bioprinted living tissues. Since its creation in 2014, the company has been developing physiological models, particularly in partnerships with the main pharmaceutical and cosmetic groups. Poietis markets Poieskin®, the first commercialized tissue produced by bioprinting. The bioprinting technology of Poietis, whose company holds the exclusive and worldwide license, is the result of innovative research conducted for ten years by Inserm and the University of Bordeaux. Poietis was the winner of the iLab Challenge 2014 and the Worldwide Innovation Challenge (Phase I) in 2016. The company employs 28 people today. More information at: www.poietis.com
In this fundraising, Poietis was supported by the firm McDermott, Will & Emery.
About WiSEED :
WiSEED is the leader and the pioneer of crowdfunding in France. As a specialist in digital investment, WiSEED offers investors the opportunity to build a diversified, high-performing portfolio, invested in the real economy, and offers businesses fast, flexible and innovative financing solutions. Thanks to sophisticated expertise and strong collection capacity, WiSEED finances meaningful and value-creating projects in the areas of environment, real estate, digital, health, food and trade. Since its creation in 2008, WiSEED has collected more than 112M € for 222 projects from 102800 private investors. WiSEED is an investment company approved by the ACPR and has the status of ISP (Investment Services Provider).
About NACO :
NACO (Nouvelle Aquitaine CO-investment fund) is a co-investment fund created on the initiative of the Regional Council of the French Region Nouvelle Aquitaine. The objective of this investment vehicle is to support partner funds, previously approved, as part of the equity financing of startups and SMEs in Nouvelle Aquitaine Region. NACO can intervene on the same amounts and terms as the partner fund. Aquiti Gestion provides the animation of this vehicle.
Contact : bernard.estienne@aquiti.fr – +33 (0)5.56.15.11.90
About the Wordlwide Innovation Challenge :
The Worldwide Innovation Challenge is part of the French Future Investments Program and is focused on eight key sectors for the future of the economy in France. The objective of the 2030 Innovation Commission, chaired by Mme Anne Lauvergeon, is to encourage and develop the talents and future key players in the French economy by supporting the growth of companies whose innovative project has a particularly strong potential.
Nouvelle Aquitaine Region and the European Union support Poietis in the framework of the « Operational Program FEDER / FSE Aquitaine 2014-2020 ».
Press Contact Poietis :
bruno.brisson@poietis.com
Tel : +33 (0)5 35 54 47 28
Press contacts WiSEED :
Agence Profile
Caroline Matuszewski
Leslie Boutin-Sossah
cmatuszewski@agence-profile.com
lboutin@agence-profile.com
01 56 26 72 32 / 33
