Curetis Closes EUR 14.5 Million Extension of Series B Financing

- Curetis wins new investors QIAGEN and LSP-HEF, committing EUR 7 million
- Curetis well financed into 2017

Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced it has closed a EUR 14.5 million extension of its Series B financing round, which was originally led by HBM Partners in April 2013. All existing investors - aeris Capital, BioMed Invest, CD Venture, Forbion Capital, HBM Partners, LSP - Life Sciences Partners, Roche Venture Fund, management, a trustee-pool of Curetis employees and private angel investors - participated in the extension financing, investing EUR 7.5 million on a pro rata basis. QIAGEN and LSP Health Economics Fund (LSP-HEF) are joining as new investors, committing a total of EUR 7 million. The financing brings the total amount of equity raised by Curetis AG to over EUR 63.5 million.

In addition, Rudy Dekeyser of LSP-HEF will join Curetis´ Supervisory Board, while Hans-Guenter Hohmann will step down after being a Board member for the past six years. Dr. Martin Potgeter, Vice President Business Development of QIAGEN, will take an observer seat on the board as second representative of a corporate investor alongside Simon Meier of Roche Venture Fund and Dr. Karsten Fischer of BioMed Invest.

The financing is supported by the achievement of key milestones, e.g. several CE/IVD-marked products, an ongoing FDA clearance trial and a growing commercial distribution network across Europe. The European market introduction of both the Unyvero P50 Pneumonia and i60 Implant and Tissue Infection applications, allowing a faster and better diagnosis of life-threatening infectious diseases, has shown increasing traction. In addition, the company is in talks with several parties on granting future U.S. commercialization rights and further expanding the commercialization into Asia and other global markets.

"With our unique focus on equity stories that have products with an immediate, strong and clear health economics impact, the investment in Curetis comes quite naturally," said Rudy Dekeyser, Managing Partner of LSP-HEF. "The Unyvero solution provides not only better medical outcomes based on more rational antibiotic therapy decisions, but at the same time offers hospitals and healthcare systems substantial savings under ever tighter DRGs. As an example, Unyvero improves the number of adequately treated pneumonia patients and reduces the average length of stay in intensive care units.”

“We are excited to see two new investors joining and further strengthening our syndicate of top-tier private equity funds," said Dr. Oliver Schacht, CEO of Curetis. "This provides further evidence of our growth story being an attractive investment case. With the current cash on hand, we are now financed well into 2017. The funds will be used to continue our commercial roll-out in Europe, the FDA trial and to prepare our company for attractive future exit opportunities such as strategic partnerships, M&A or an IPO."