Backed by global investor syndicate led by new investors Farallon Capital Management and Lauxera Capital Partners along with Softbank Fund 2, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Parian Global Management, Gilde Healthcare, Pura Vida Investments, and Irving Investors.
LUMICKS, a leading, next-generation life science tools company that develops highly innovative platforms for Dynamic Single-Molecule and Cell Avidity analysis, announced the completion of a $93 million Series D preferred share financing.
The funding round was led by new investors Farallon Capital Management and Lauxera Capital Partners, and included investments by Softbank Vision 2[i], funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Parian Global Management, Pura Vida Investments, and Irving Investors. The round was also backed by existing investor Gilde Healthcare and select members of the LUMICKS management team. A majority of the proceeds from the financing will be used to bolster growth initiatives including expansion of both research and development and commercial activities for the z-Movi® Cell Avidity Analyzer.
“We are ecstatic to receive an investment from such an impressive group of investors that is excited to support us for our next phase of growth,” stated Olivier Heyning, CEO of LUMICKS. “The new investors are a wonderful complement to our existing investor base and bring an outstanding amount of industry knowledge that we believe will result in an incredibly positive partnership. With this fundraising, we believe LUMICKS is well positioned to drive significant growth of our Dynamic Single-Molecule platform and further accelerate the commercial adoption of the industry-changing z-Movi solution.”
“We believe LUMICKS’ z-Movi Cell Avidity Analyzer for direct, high-resolution measurement of cell avidity is a revolutionary platform that can accelerate translational R&D across institutions and biopharma,” said Alex Slack, Co-Founder of Lauxera Capital Partners. “The z-Movi solution has the potential to drive remarkable advances in cancer treatment. It builds on LUMICKS’ rapid innovation, anchored by its Dynamic Single-Molecule franchise that is expanding access to and use cases for single molecule force measurement.”
William Blair served as sole placement agent for the transaction.
[i] As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (“SVF 2”) in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.
About LUMICKS
LUMICKS is a leading life science tools company that develops equipment for Dynamic Single-Molecule and Cell Avidity analysis, two rapidly emerging areas in biology research and immuno-oncology. Built upon innovative technologies, such as optical tweezers (Nobel Prize for Physics 2018) and STED super-resolution (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2014), LUMICKS tools facilitate the understanding of life to the smallest detail.
Applying and measuring forces and interactions in biology enables real-time analysis of underlying biological mechanisms, building the crucial and yet unfinished bridge between structure and function at the molecular and cellular levels. Using LUMICKS’ groundbreaking C-Trap® Optical Tweezers – Fluorescence Microscopy, scientists are able to analyze complex biological processes in real-time. Similarly, the z-Movi® Cell Avidity Analyzer enables the measurement and selection of immune cells based on their real-time interactions with target cells. The company was founded in 2014 as an academic spin-off from the research group of Prof. Gijs Wuite, Prof. Erwin Peterman, and Prof. Iddo Heller at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.lumicks.com.
About z-Movi
The z-Movi® Cell Avidity Analyzer is a novel platform that rapidly measures the binding strength between target and immune cells, providing high-throughput results with single-cell resolution. Cell avidity data are key metrics that correlate with the biological outcome of cellular immunotherapies. Cell avidity insights provide researchers with reproducible and predictive information about the best therapeutic candidates at an early stage, potentially leading to improved candidate selection and dramatically faster drug development. Since its release in 2020, the z-Movi has been adopted by leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies around the world to accelerate the entry of cell therapies into clinical trials.
About Lauxera Capital Partners
Lauxera Capital Partners is an independent, global investment firm focused on HealthTech growth companies. Founded in 2020 by a combined group of company builders and career healthcare investors, Lauxera’s team is based in Paris and San Francisco in order to serve as a bridge between healthcare innovations born in the EU and global customers and capital markets. Lauxera invests in commercial-stage, EU HealthTech businesses poised to scale into market-leading category champions. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.lauxera.com
