Naarden, The Netherlands, 9th September 2008 – BAC BV, the Bio Affinity Company, announced today that it has secured a further €1.5 million investment from its existing investors to accelerate the development of BAC’s affinity product pipeline.
All the investors in BAC’s original investor syndicate, which includes Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of Unilever, and FF&P Private Equity, the private equity arm of London-based multi-family office Fleming Family & Partners, have subscribed to this financing round. The funds will be used to expand BAC’s proprietary pipeline of multi-customer biopharma purification ligands, and to increase its portfolio of immobilized purification products, which are available via the BAC web-shop and already includes the successful Antibody Toolbox range.
“The funds raised from our investors, who have all participated in this round, show their continuing support of our expertise in developing novel products for purifying biopharmaceuticals,” said Dr. Laurens Sierkstra, CEO of BAC. “From the successful launch of our Biopharmaceutical purification products and our customized media projects for major pharmaceuticals, we are convinced that the timing is right to broaden our product pipeline.”
Andrew Lane, a director of Unilever Ventures, said: “We are very pleased with BAC’s accomplishments to date providing clear validation that BAC is a leader in the discovery and development of novel products for biopharmaceutical purification. Recent product launches in collaboration with GE Healthcare as well as custom development programmes with the likes of Hematech, sanofi pasteur, Octapharma and LFB Biotechnologies have confirmed the significant market opportunity and demand for CaptureSelect®. The timing is now right to further expand BAC’s product pipeline to fully capture the potential of this unique ligand technology. I am confident that BAC has an excellent future.”
”We are impressed that BAC’s CaptureSelect® ligand technology has generated so much interest both in the life sciences research market and in Biomanufacturing,” said Johan van Zyl, Investment Manager at FF&P Private Equity. ”BAC is very well positioned to capitalize on the tremendous growth in biopharmaceuticals given its strong team, market expertise and patented technology. We are pleased by the progress made to date and look forward to continue working with BAC’s talented Management Board, experienced Supervisory Board and our fellow investors to further build a business of significant value.”
BAC has recently relocated its R&D laboratories to the BioPartner Center Leiden, residing in the Bioscience Park of Leiden, The Netherlands.
