Press room
mk2 Biotechnologies receives a multi-million sum in seed funding.
Several million Euros seed funding financing round was led by OCCIDENT, with the support of SeedBlink and primeCROWD.
Munich-based mk2 Biotechnologies today announced the receipt of several million Euros in seed funding to accelerate the further growth of the company. In particular, the company thrives to accomplish additional development milestones towards industrializing its novel peptide production platform. The financing round was led by OCCIDENT, with significant funds also coming from primeCROWD and SeedBlink alongside co-financing from high net worth individuals.
"mk2 Biotechnologies objective is to apply our unique platform approach for the synthesis and purification of authentic peptides at large scales, which can be broadly applied in several market segments. Using our synthesis technology, we can exceed both the customer quality and cost requirements. The key to our process is, that we were able to eliminate the existing bottlenecks of established technologies" said Dr. Sebastian Mangold, Managing Director and one of the three co-founders of mk2 Biotechnologies.
"The funding committed by this experienced syndicate represents further validation of our technology and reflects the recent bioactive market development. The funding will enable us to continuously improve our platform and ramp up our production in order to move our first product candidates towards the application in volume markets such as cosmetics, food & beverages, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals"
mk2 Biotechnologies will transfer its R&D facilities this fall to the Innovation and Start-Up Center for Biotechnology in Martinsried (IZB), just outside of Munich, which will enable the targeted team, infrastructure, and business growth. "We are very much looking forward to our new facilities and the neighboring companies mainly active in the pharmaceuticals industry. We expect to leverage respective synergies and accelerate not only our industrially applicable product candidates but particularly our peptide-based APIs which are already in the development pipeline" complemented Dr. Sebastian Mangold.
Cèdric Barra, Senior Investment Manager at OCCIDENT, commented: "We see a lot of potential in the application of high-quality peptides. With the technology platform and the know-how that the team at mk2 brings with them, the company is in an excellent position for further development. We are very much looking forward to working with this motivated team in the future."
Dr. Ronald Rapberger, Chief Investment Officer of primeCROWD, added: "Being a molecular bologist myself, I'm confident in the ability of this outstanding team to bring the technology from the lab to the mass markets. This will finally make peptides available for currently underserved application areas and at competitive prices."
Peptides, which are short amino acid chains, can have extraordinary properties and modes of action. This substance class has been identified to be very promising for highly attractive applications in the areas of personal care, food & beverages (e.g. flavors, nutrition, and conservation), animal breeding (e.g. antibiotics substitutes), and crop cultivation (e.g. fungicide and fertilizer substitutes). However, established production methods are very costly and not scalable. Due to the enormously high prices, despite their often outstanding properties and the broad interest of the industry, peptides have so far not been applicable in products on the mass market. mk2 Biotechnologies precisely addresses this problem via a proprietary process that allows the scalable and thus cost-efficient production of high-purity peptides for arbitrary applications. Therefore, mk2 Biotechnologies provides the yet missing tool for the application of peptides in mass markets.
About mk2 Biotechnologies
mk2 Biotechnologies GmbH develops, produces, and investigates peptides at highest purity and quality standards using a revolutionary scalable synthesis technology. This way mk2 Biotechnologies enables the production of authentic peptides, regardless of their physical or chemical properties, at large scales and at low costs.
About OCCIDENT
OCCIDENT is an international venture capital investor with offices in Munich and Zug, is owner-managed, and invests own wealth. Its aim is to make positive contributions to society through sustainable and meaningful investments.
OCCIDENT invests in innovative deep tech startups with excellent technologies in the fields of life sciences, high-tech, and digital with broad application possibilities and the potential for further value-generating developments. The geographic focus is in Germany and Switzerland. The preferred stage for initial financing is from seed rounds or later and from 0.5 million euros. OCCIDENT distinguishes itself in particular by its in-depth knowledge of the technology and the versatile support offered to its portfolio companies by its competent team of experts. https://www.occident.group/
About SeedBlink
SeedBlink is the fastest growing investing platform specialized in sourcing, vetting, financing, and scaling in European tech startups. The company aims to simplify the investment process for retail and accredited investors by combining crowd reach, business angel flexibility, and Venture Capital expertise, all in one internet platform. SeedBlink's booming investors community and the selection of startups are at the core of the platforms' success, along with optimized portfolio diversification through thesis-aligned matching and engagement tools. https://seedblink.com/
About primeCROWD
primeCROWD is one of the largest startup investor networks in the DACH region and includes more than 2.500 investors as well as numerous incubators, accelerators, and VCs.
primeCROWD acts as an interface between investors and startups with a focus on early-stage and growth financing in the technology, healthcare, digital economy, and sustainability sectors. Its declared goal is to accompany startups throughout the entire investment process.
Since its foundation in 2015, investments in 28 startups and in the amount of more than EUR 20 million have been realized (2 exits).
PublishedJuly 29, 2021
Share on
Be the first to know all about tech-trends, European growth, investments, and get exclusive access to all resources offered by our community!
Tudor Goicea
Co-founder of Aqurate
-
As a startup founder, I am happy to witness SeedBlink’s dedication to expanding their support for early-stage companies beyond funding, towards a healthy equity management via Nimity. A solution to help better navigate relations with stakeholders, employees and future investors is needed in Europe. Less admin work and bringing transparency to the cap table are immediate benefits I was able to test.
Delia Iliasa
Managing Partner
SanoPass
SeedBlink is a transparent solution that connects entrepreneurs with great business plans, with investors, at different stages in their development. It is a great tool for us, a democratization of access to funding, I would say.
Ioan Iacob
Founder
FLOWX.AI
We really loved the SeedBlink journey. We reached our fundraising goal within hours of launching. About 100 investors joined our vision and invested almost $2 million in FLOWX.AI through the Private Deal Room. At the same time, working with SeedBlink to prepare for the funding round was an excellent exercise for our entire team, and we received and felt the support from the SeedBlink team members who took on an advisory role.
Dan Vidrașcu
CEO
VOXA
SeedBlink made the (investment) process run smoothly. We appreciate all the support SeedBlink's professional team has provided.
Tinu Bosinceanu
Founder and CEO
Upgrade Education
It's important to look for and choose a platform that you resonate with, that shares your mission with, a platform & its people with which you feel you can have good working relationships. we got an excellent relationship going forward; we talked a lot and we were in touch on a lot of matters and I think this was important. Having people who believe in your idea is of great help.
Kimmo Rytkönen
Founder and CEO
Income
Running the financing round was like any other fundraising; we had to be active in our community as well as in SeedBlink's investor community. After the launch, everything happened very quickly, and SeedBlink organized several pitch events for investors, which we found very useful for the round momentum.
Svilen Rangelov
Founder and CEO
Dronamics
We immediately clicked with the SeedBlink team as their fundraising expertise was immediately obvious and their no-nonsense approach really appealed to us. After all, fundraising is only a means to an end, and we liked how the SeedBlink team was really focusing on supporting us and on getting things done.
Mihai Darzan
Founder
Procesio
Our main expectation has been to raise the amount we were aiming for, and both rounds launched on Seedblink exceeded our targets, so we’re very happy with that! Even though the launched funding campaigns have been purely crowdfunding rounds, we are thrilled to actually receive extra support from some of the investors, who have chosen to get involved and help us generate product awareness, whenever they can.
Catalin Mester
Founder
Voxa
I am recommending SeedBlink without hesitation, to every founder that raises capital, especially early-stage tech startups. SeedBlink is a crowd investment platform that will also provide their startup with visibility, for Angels and VCs.
Dragoș Iliescu
Founder and CEO
Brio
In the early stages, we have been funded by several early (angel) investors, and one and a half year ago through an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedBlink. Of course, this impacted our growth in many positive ways, partly due to the cash influx that, evidently, was sorely needed, but in a larger part due to the fact that our responsibility towards our shareholders has become more stringent and explicit, becoming embodied in our market approach.
Costin Tudor
Co-founder and CEO
Undelucram
Given the accelerated growth we observed at the end of last year and the beginning of 2021, we want a new capitalization, quickly. This is a bridge round that we will use for one year, and the advantages that SeedBlink offers are the speed at which we were able to list for financing and the experience that we gain as a result of this public listing, similar to a listing on the stock exchange.
Diwaker Singh
Co-Founder & CEO
Crikle
As a platform that only serves technology ventures, SeedBlink can connect the start-up with more than just money. SeedBlink investors are primarily technocrats who understand the objectives of the fundraising company and are also able to post-funding contribute with business opportunities. The minimum investment threshold, and technology focus, differentiates SeedBlink from other fundraising platforms. A perfect fit for a technology start-up seeking intelligent funding.
Florin Stoian
Co-Founder & CEO
Milluu
SeedBlink boosted our brand exposure and facilitated the financial support we were seeking. Having a campaign on the platform allowed us not only to meet a team of professionals - that guided and helped us prepare the necessary materials - but also opened doors for increasing our brand awareness and have discussions with VCs & angel investors we have never reached before. This campaign gave us the encouragement we needed to push the product further, while the record-breaking fundraising (only 2 hours from the launch of the campaign!) was a great confirmation that our product is needed in this market and that we should continue innovating.
Raluca Jianu
CEO & Co-founder
Epic Visits
SeedBlink has created a vital ecosystem for startups at the beginning of their journey by equipping entrepreneurs with expertise, encouraging honest and sometimes uncomfortable but necessary discussions about risks and vulnerabilities through a suite of tools, and facilitating connections with investors who share the founders' vision and can contribute to their success. I have greatly appreciated the constant support of Eric and the entire team at all stages of the campaign. Thank you so much!
SeedBlink S.A. is registered in the Register of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), under number PJR28FSFPR/400001, as of 03.11.2022 with an EU passport as per European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) register of crowdfunding services providers.
Peeked at the footer? Don't let your curiosity end here and explore more!
© 2024 All Rights Reserved
EN