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V-Bio Ventures

We are a life sciences fund investing throughout Europe in start-up and early-stage companies with high growth potential. Our articles cover investment-related topics in life sciences, including innovation trends, the latest business themes and exciting updates on our portfolio companies.
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Picture of V-Bio Ventures

V-Bio Ventures

We are a life sciences fund investing throughout Europe in start-up and early-stage companies with high growth potential. Our articles cover investment-related topics in life sciences, including innovation trends, the latest business themes and exciting updates on our portfolio companies.
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Augustine Therapeutics: bridging the valley of death with VIB Discovery Sciences

Augustine Therapeutics is one of VIB’s latest spinoffs, developing a first-in-class drug for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The company recently announced a seed-funding round of €4.2 million, led by V-Bio Ventures. We spoke to several of the key persons in Augustine about how the startup is tackling the “Valley of Death”: the no-man’s-land between academia and industry where many potential therapies often fail.

Why Are Start-Ups Such Hotbeds For Innovation?

A large proportion of new treatments and life sciences breakthroughs can often be traced back to humble beginnings in a start-up venture. Why is it that these smaller companies seem so adept at developing innovative products? What have they got that larger companies are lacking? V-Bio Ventures takes a look at some of the factors making start-ups hotbeds for innovation.

V-Bio Ventures invests in RootWave in a EUR 6.5 M Series A financing to develop and market electrical weed killing solutions

Ghent (Belgium), 20th of January 2020 - Today V-Bio Ventures announces its investment in RootWave, a pioneer in electrical weed killing solutions. RootWave secured ca. EUR 6.5m in a Series A investment round led by V-Bio Ventures (Belgium) and Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund (Netherlands), and joined by impact fund Pymwymic (Netherlands) and existing shareholders including Yield Lab Ireland. The proceeds will enable RootWave to expand commercialisation of its RootWave Pro, a professional hand-weeder for spot weeding and treating invasive species, integrate its technology into automated agricultural weeders, and conduct further research into novel electricity-based weed killing applications.

How business models shaped our current drug development trends

With the soaring cost of drugs for rare indications, many biotech and pharmaceutical companies are focusing R&D efforts on orphan diseases. Will the pendulum swing back towards more common maladies? When will the price of drugs start to fall? In this month’s VC views, V-Bio Ventures examines the current business model for rare diseases.

V-Bio Ventures invests in Augustine Therapeutics, a VIB and KU Leuven spin-off to fight neuromuscular diseases

Ghent, Belgium, December 16 2019 – Today V-Bio Ventures announces its investment in Augustine Therapeutics, a new venture developing innovative therapeutics for patients suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. A spin-off of VIB and KU Leuven, Augustine raises a seed-round of 4.2 million euro with V-Bio Ventures, PMV, Advent France Biotechnology, Gemma Frisius Fund and VIB.

Magic mushrooms in modern medicine

More than 75 years after the initial discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and other natural psychoactive drugs, and their initial exploitation by the western pharma industry, these substances have seen a recent revival in clinical research. Although banned in the notorious “War on Drugs” initiated by US President Nixon, the potential medicinal applications of these substances are finally being explored again, particularly for treating depressive disorders and other mental diseases. This article aims to shed light on a topic we highlighted before in this series - anti-science in biotech - to illustrate the consequences of research being abandoned, as well as the opportunities and additional challenges to making these substances finally available for patients in need.

Mining the microbiome for sustainable agriculture solutions

In this month’s article we take a look at Aphea.Bio, a V-Bio Ventures portfolio company. This startup is developing microbiome products for improved crop growth and pest protection, using state-of-the art technology.

Closing the gender gap in biotech funding: a follow-up study

In this follow-up to a previous VC Views article, V-Bio Ventures takes a look at several questions that were generated by readers. The VC firm carried out a study of the gender composition of investment teams and the impact of these ratios on investment decisions, reflecting on some strategies that might help women with executive ambitions reach their goals.

The million-dollar question: How much do you charge for a lifesaving drug?

The newest generation of ground-breaking gene therapy drugs, Zolgensma and Zynteglo, come with eye-catching price tags of more than a million dollars per treatment. Is the pharma industry recklessly overstepping a line here, or do they fall within current standards of value-based drug pricing? With more of these drugs soon to be rolling out of pharma pipelines, the stakes are rising high for patients, industry, governments, health insurance companies, as well as investors. It all warrants a deeper dive into the case.

How do we reduce the high cost of clinical trials?

Drug development is an exorbitantly expensive endeavor. A large expense factor for developing a new therapy is the high cost of conducting clinical trials. Why are clinical trials so insanely expensive to run? And what can be done to increase the affordability of these trials?

Betting big on blood screens for early cancer detection

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) just held their annual gathering in Chicago. The event coincided with some interesting new developments in the field of early cancer detection, as well as news of significant new investments in the oncology space.

OCTIMET Oncology tackling cancer with a new captain at the helm

In this article, V-Bio Ventures introduces one of their portfolio companies, OCTIMET. This Belgian oncology startup just added a new member to its executive team, with the appointment of Shelley Margetson as CEO. It’s exciting times for OCTIMET, who are gearing up for a series B with their sights set on potential partners in China.

Cultured meat, plant-based patties and bug burgers: VCs are backing protein alternatives

When it comes to food, our key sources of nutrition haven’t changed much in the last ten thousand years. Though hyped-up food trends and diets come and go, our ancestors established the status quo for our primary protein sources a long time ago: animal products, like dairy, eggs and meat, have been the staples ever since we switched from hunters to farmers. However, with rising global populations driving sky-high demand for animal products, is it time for another food revolution?

Closing the gender gap in biotech funding

Companies with a good gender balance consistently outperform those with only men in their management teams. Yet despite this, start-ups with female founders and management team members are consistently underfunded compared to all male companies. Could it be that the gender gap in funding has its roots in the gender disparity in the financing firms themselves?

Life after a PhD: alternatives to academia