Jülich-based SRTD Biotech raises €31.5 million to develop precision mRNA therapies
SRTD Biotech, a biotech startup based in Jülich, Germany, has closed a €31.5 million Seed round led by Mérieux Equity Partners. The money will fund mRNA therapies designed to act only inside diseased cells.
SRTD Biotech, a startup based in Jülich in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region that is developing next-generation precision mRNA (messenger RNA) therapeutics, has closed an oversubscribed Seed financing round worth €31.5 million. The proceeds are meant to help bring to patients therapies for diseases that current treatments address inadequately.
Investors
The round was led by Mérieux Equity Partners through its Mérieux Innovation 2 fund. NRW.BANK and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund joined as co-leads. Lilly Ventures, HTGF and Anobis Asset, a family office based in Freiburg, also took part. Kristin Thompson, Director at Mérieux Equity Partners, said the company's technology tackles a key challenge in the field: achieving precise, selective therapeutic activity while limiting effects on healthy cells.
Technology
SRTD was founded in 2019 in Jülich by Dr. Bernd Hoffmann and Dr. Heribert Bohlen. They developed an approach in which intracellular RNA disease markers activate mRNA expression only inside target cells. According to the company, these selectively expressed RNA (seRNA) constructs allow controlled expression of therapeutic payloads in diseased cells while minimising exposure in healthy tissue.
The company combines three platforms: its proprietary seRNA technology; a new fusogenic lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform intended to reach the liver, lung, brain and other organs; and a synthetic biology platform with bioinformatics and AI-driven RNA design.
Leadership changes
Following the round, Matthias Alder was appointed Chief Executive Officer. He has previously held senior roles at publicly traded biotech companies in the US and Europe. Dr. Heinz Koeppl, a professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt and director of its Centre for Synthetic Biology, joined as Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Jens Hennecke is Chief Business Officer, responsible for business development and R&D collaborations beyond SRTD's own pipeline.
NRW.BANK, headquartered in Düsseldorf, is investing via its NRW.Venture EU Tech&Scale fund. Under an InvestEU guarantee agreement with the European Commission, the bank can invest up to €200 million in young scale-ups through the fund.
