Spain
February 24, 2016
CRB Inverbío has led a €3 million investment in Iden Biotechnology through its CRB Bio II FCR fund, along with the public company SODENA that contributes with an additional €1 million. The total round, which amounts to €4 million euro, will allow the company to extend its R&D facilities and staff in Navarra, and to strengthen its R&D development programs for crop improvement and agrobiological product.
CRB Bio II fund becomes the main shareholder in the company and together with the funding team, INFARCO (Cinfa’s parent company), the Spanish National Research council (CSIC) and SODENA, creates a stable shareholding base for IDEN.
IDEN was founded in 2005 by members of the research group of Carbohydrate Metabolism of the Agrobiotechnology Institute of Navarra (IdaB), a joint center between the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), the CSIC, and the Government of Navarra. Iden focuses on two main areas: i) the identification and development of vegetal genes with agronomic value for the improvement of crop yield and quality, and, ii) the development of biological compounds that, , provide higher yield and resistanc and when applied to the crops, thus reducing the use of agrochemical products.
The Company has been very active internationally and has reached several licensing and co-development agreements of its technology with companies in USA, South America and India, among others. It is also working alongside prospective investors to strengthen the capital structure and accelerate the execution of the Company’s business plan
Nora Alonso, founder and Managing Director of the company stressed that “the incorporation of two investors with the experience and capacity of CRB Inverbío and Sodena, grants the company the financial resources and management capacities for the execution of an ambitious plan for the next three years”.
Angel Santos, partner of CRB Inverbío and new Chairman of the Board ensures that “this round reinforces our commitment with Iden and its sound portfolio and outstanding leadership potential in a sector that has great value creation opportunities and that is already attracting high interest from financial and industrial investors, worldwide”.
Carlos Fernández Valdivielso, Managing Director of SODENA, has noted that “for SODENA this new investment in Iden reflects the consolidation of our bet on an innovative sector for Navarra, closely tied to other strategic sectors in the region, such as the agroindustry. Moreover, the company has a collaborative business model with third parties supported on platforms and external players that generates an induced effect with impact on the economy of the region. Likewise, the project fulfills SODENA’s investment criteria, whereupon our investment has to have a multiplying effect on private investment, that in this case and in a very especial way, comes hand in hand with an investor of reference that has put his trust in a Navarra company.
About Iden
Iden Biotechnology S.L. was founded by members of Carbohydrate Metabolism research group from IdAB. The company develops and commercialized technologies related to crop improvement and agrobiological products, for the improvement of crop yield, resistance to different stress conditions and quality characteristics. The technologies are protected by a strong patent pipeline, focused for the international seed and agrobiologicals markets.
Actually, in addition to the founders, share the company strategic partners as Infarco, the parent company of Cinfa, Spanish National Research Council, CRB Inverbío and SODENA.
www.idenbiotechnology.com
About CRB Inverbío SGEIC
CRB Inverbio SGEIC is an independent venture capital management firm that invests in the development of seed companies in life sciences, with innovative technological solutions. Actually, CRB Inverbio manages two funds of more than €50M+ and has 13 companies in the portfolio, among which stand out Oncovision (breast cancer diagnosis and treatment improvement using molecular images), Nuubo (enables remote monitoring of cardiovascular diseases), Raman (develops blood test for Alzheimer early diagnosis), TCD (oncology innovative treatments, Biocross (develops a non-invasive Alzheimer test), Venter (first hipolactasia diagnosis test), Amadix (development of cancer molecular diagnosis), Mecwins (development and commercialization of biomechanical sensors) and OWL (first diagnosis test in the market for NASH disease).
www.crbinverbio.com
About SODENA
SODENA, Sociedad de Desarrollo de Navarra is the financial instrument of the Government of Navarra that aims to identify, attract and promote the generation and development of business projects for Navarra, both indigenous and foreign, through financial means, mainly venture capital, as well as to offer counseling and support to foreign companies that are looking to set up in our region.
The financial support to business projects is done through venture capital. These projects must be linked to Navarra, backing in an active and relevant way the balanced and sustained development of the region. The technical aid is rendered through the coordination, monitoring and connection with investors and companies, providing the support that might be needed for the companies to decide to set up in Navarra.
SODENA’s current portfolio is made up of 118 business projects: 47 of them are participated directly and 66 indirectly through 10 specialized venture capital funds.
www.sodena.com
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