Immatics, a Germany-based cancer immunotherapy spinout from University of Tübingen, secured $58m in a series E round yesterday that featured pharmaceutical firm Amgen.
Life sciences investment firm Dievini Hopp Biotech, venture capital firm Wellington Partners, AT Impf and unnamed existing investors also participated in the round.
Founded in 2000, Immatics has created an antigen discovery platform called XPresident, which generates T-cell therapies from peripheral blood cells. T-cells are a part of the body’s immune system and a key component of cancer immunotherapies.
The technology is based on initial research at University of Tübingen’s Department of Immunology, with additional research by Cassian Yee from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The centre and the spinout joined forces in 2015 to establish Immatics US.
The money will allow Immatics to advance several candidates into clinical trials, develop its pipeline and explore the discovery of additional tumour targets.
Amgen and Immatics signed a collaboration agreement in January 2017 that included a $30m upfront payment and potentially more than $1bn in milestone payments and royalties.
Immatics had previously raised €142m ($167m at current rates) in funding, including €53.8m in a 2010 series C round backed by Mona Lisa Fund, which counts telecommunications firm Swisscom as its sole limited partner, Dievini Hopp Biotech and Wellington Partners.
Other investors in Immatics include MIG, National Technology Enterprises Company, 3i Group, Grazia Equity, L-EA Seed, Merifin Capital and German government-owned economic development bank KfW.