Poxel, a France-based diabetes drug development firm, has raised €16m ($19.7m) in its series A round after spinning off from biotechnology company Merck Serono.
Merck Serono, which set up a corporate venturing unit last year, was not part of the A round but declined to say whether it had retained a stake in the business it set up last year.
Poxel’s A round was led by French venture capital firm Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRIP), with the €137m InnoBio fund, managed by CDC Entreprises and Credit Agricole Private Equity participating. Bionest Partners Finance advised Poxel on the fundraising.
Four members have joined Poxel’s board: Thierry Hercend, (pictured) venture partner at EdRIP and previously vice president in charge of the oncology therapeutic area at Aventis before its merger with Sanofi, as chairman; Raphael Wisniewski, partner at EdRIP; Olivier Martinez, investment manager at InnoBio; and Bruno Montanari, investment manager at Credit Agricole Private Equity.
Wisniewski said: "We are happy to have led the largest series A financing round in France since 2005."
Thibaut Roulon, investment officer at CDC Entreprises, said: "With this third investment by InnoBio, we are glad to finance a very promising spin-off with a strong pipeline of innovative anti-diabetic drugs. This first investment in a series A round also demonstrates our willingness to support earlier stage companies, which is shared by InnoBio’s subscribers."
Led by Laurent Arthaud, InnoBio made its first deal in January and is 37% committed by the FSI and pharmaceutical companies established in France, such as Sanofi-aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Ipsen, Takeda and Boehringer Ingelheim.
The International Diabetes Federation said that last year 285 million people around the world had diabetes and this was expected to rise to 438 million within 20 years.