High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF), the German state and corporate-backed early-stage investment company, has backed three local companies.
Drug Response Dx, which tests for rheumatoid arthritis licensed by the Max Planck Society, raised an undisclosed amount in its series A round from HTGF and Qiagen, a Netherlands-based company providing test equipment.
Qiagen said it had made a strategic equity investment in Drug Response Dx with the option to obtain worldwide rights to biomarkers for evaluation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to guide treatment with TNF-alpha inhibitors, which are widely prescribed for treatment of RA.
BioRob, a manufacturer of lightweight robots, raised an undisclosed amount in its seed round, led by HTGF and Dr. Schulze Consulting.
Gestigon, which develops software to control devices solely by gestures, gained seed money from HTGF and Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein.
And GeneQuine Biotherapeutics completed a seven-figure seed financing round from HTGF and Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg to carry out proof-of-concept studies with the lead product – a gene therapy drug for the treatment of osteoarthritis in horses.