Strasbourg, December 9 2009 - Polyplus-transfection, a company specialized in the research, development and commercialization of innovative reagents for the transfer of biomolecules, has completed a new funding round in which it raised EUR 1.2 million . The funding took the form of an issue of convertible bonds and was led by existing investor CIC-Vizille Capital Innovation, with the participation of the company’s two other historic shareholders, Avenir Finance Gestion and CIC Finance-CIC Investissement Alsace.
These funds will be assigned primarily to the RNAplus research program, which has been approved by the “Innovations Thérapeutiques” competitivity cluster. The objective of the RNAplus project is to generate new oligonucleotides capable of silencing the expression of a target gene through RNA interference without the use of a delivery reagent. Polyplus-transfection will also reinforce its human resources with a new CEO and a Business Development Manager in the United States, its leading market (40 percent of sales). In addition, the funding will allow Polyplus to push ahead its program for exploiting ZNA (Zip Nucleic Acids) oligonucleotides and to defend the company’s intellectual property, especially its rights to the use of polyehtylenimine (PEI) for bioproduction purposes.
“We are delighted that all our existing shareholders have renewed their confidence in the company and its technologies,” said Dr. Gabriel Festoc, Chairman of the Board of Polyplus-transfection. “Thanks to this funding, we shall be able to reach a new stage in the development of Polyplus, after almost doubling our consolidated revenues to EUR 2.6 million in 2009, and in particular to strengthen our research team for supporting our growth and investing in our key RNAplus program.”
For her part, the Investment Director of CIC-Vizille Capital Innovation, Karine Lignel, said: “We have supported Polyplus since 2004 and we are delighted to be accompanying it in this new step, which is the result of a true and ambitious strategic view. Its capacity to develop and commercialize very promising new technologies was a decisive factor in the investors’ decision. The company owns both solid research expertise and a broad range of products available internationally. The license agreement that Polyplus signed with Sigma-Aldrich last month for the marketing of its ZNA-modified oligonucleotides is an illustration of that.”
About Polyplus-transfection
Polyplus-transfection is a biotechnology company developing and marketing innovative solutions for transfection and therapies based on nucleic acid delivery. Based in Strasbourg, France, the company has been selling its transfection reagents since 2001. The multidisciplinary Polyplus R&D team includes chemists, molecular and cellular biologists. Polyplus-transfection has extended its field of expertise to molecular biology reagents with the development of ZNA™ oligonucleotides. The company has numerous patents pending and licenses in the fields of nucleic acid delivery and modified oligonucleotides.
