Navignostics raises CHF 7.5M in seed financing round to advance precision cancer medicine through spatial single-cell proteomics

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Zurich, Switzerland

Navignostics announced the closing of their seed financing round with an investment of CHF 7.5M. Bruker Invest AG led the oversubscribed round, joined by Think.Health Ventures, Ventura Biomed Investors, and the Zürcher Kantonalbank. Navignostics aims to guide targeted and immuno-oncology therapy selection tailored towards the individual cancer patient’s tumor phenotype, by using artificial intelligence (AI) driven software, coupled to single-cell resolved spatial proteomic tumor data. This proprietary approach will also help accelerate oncology drug development and enable the discovery of companion diagnostic biomarkers.

Navignostics is a spin-off company from Prof. Dr. Bernd Bodenmiller’s group at the University of Zürich and was founded in April 2022 by Jana Fischer, Stephane Chevrier, Andrea Jacobs and Bernd Bodenmiller. “With this seed financing, we will boost our capacity to engage with clinical, biotech and pharma partners and accelerate the development of our first diagnostic product. We will take a big step in Navignostics’ company expansion by moving our team into our own laboratory and office premises, enabling the establishment of certified processes and further expansion of our world-leading team of scientists and business professionals,” said Dr. Jana Fischer, Co-Founder and CEO of Navignostics.

Dr. Frank Laukien, CEO of Bruker Corporation and also co-chair of the AACR Cancer Evolution working group, commented: “I believe that high-plex spatial single-cell proteomics has enormous potential for precision oncology, and for research towards a better functional understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Navignostics has the innovative and visionary founders and leadership team to advance and translate spatial single-cell proteomics into clinical use for the near-term benefit of the many cancer patients, who may benefit from meaningfully longer progression-free or overall survival. These novel precision medicine high-plex TME functional protein analysis strategies offer enormous opportunities for the future of onco-pathology and cancer tissue diagnostics.”

Dr. Florian Kainzinger, Managing Partner at Think.Health Ventures said “Our team was impressed with the clinical impact the methods used by Navignostics were able to demonstrate at such an early stage in their company development. Their approaches offer enormous potential to shape pioneering strategies for future cancer therapy.”

“I am excited to support Navignostics in our shared vision of leveraging spatial single-cell proteomics to advance precision cancer medicine,” said Dr. Andreas Jenne, CEO at Venture Biomed Investors. “The company has a promising combination of team, technology and expertise and I am looking forward to complementing the Navignostics team with my experience in bringing diagnostic products to the market.”

Marie-Line Bachmann, Investment Manager Start-up Finance at ZKB, commented: “Spatial single-cell proteomics have the potential to augment current genetics-based diagnostics by directly characterizing the proteins of the tumor and the surrounding cells. We strongly believe that the extraordinary team around Jana Fischer will bring personalized medicine to the next level.”

About

Navignostics 

Navignostics is a spin-off company from the University of Zurich, founded in April 2022, which is leveraging spatial single-cell proteomics to perform advanced analyses of tumor samples. As a start–up active in the personalized medicine field, Navignostics strives to provide innovative solutions to identify the best possible treatment for each cancer patient. In addition, Navignostics provides advanced services to pharmaceutical companies to accelerate cancer drug development and to contribute to companion diagnostic development. 

Bruker Corporation 

Bruker is enabling scientists to make breakthrough discoveries and develop new applications that improve the quality of human life. Bruker offers differentiated, high-value life science and diagnostics systems and solutions in preclinical imaging, clinical phenomics research, proteomics and multi-omics, spatial and single-cell biology, functional structural and condensate biology, as well as in clinical microbiology and molecular diagnostics. 

Think.Health Ventures  

Think.Health invests as a boutique risk-taker in healthcare ventures. We continuously seek innovations and disruptive business models in digital healthcare, medical technologies and health service providers. 

Ventura Biomed Investors  

Ventura BioMed Investors invests in early-stage life science companies developing pioneering technologies and innovative therapies. As serial entrepreneurs with many years of experience, we help shape the long-term development of our portfolio companies and provide them access to our broad investor and business network. Ventura supports exceptional entrepreneurs with their vision to accelerate medical breakthroughs that solve unmet patient needs. 

Zürcher Kantonalbank  

Zürcher Kantonalbank is a leading universal bank in the Zurich economic area with Swiss roots and international reach. It is an independent, incorporated public-law institution of the Canton of Zurich and has received top ratings from the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch (AAA/Aaa). With more than 5,000 employees, Zürcher Kantonalbank offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services. The bank’s core activities include financing businesses, asset and wealth management, trading, capital market transactions, deposits, payment transactions and the card business. Zürcher Kantonalbank provides clients and distribution partners with a comprehensive range of investment and retirement provision products and services. 

Contacts

Navignostics
Jana Fischer, Founding CEO :
jana.fischer@navignostics.ch
 

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