Press Release Date: 9/24/2007

 

Upfront Chromatography Closes €6.8 million ($9.2 million) Investment Funding


DSM Venturing joins existing investors InnovationsKapital and NBGI Ventures in investment round

Copenhagen 24th September 2007 - Upfront Chromatography A/S, the world´s leading developer of customised industrial-scale protein chromatography processes, has announced that it has raised €6.8 million ($9.2 million) in investment funding. The investors in this round were DSM Venturing, the corporate venturing arm of Royal DSM N.V., and existing investors InnovationsKapital and NBGI Ventures.

Upfront will use the proceeds of the financing to significantly strengthen its sales force particularly in North America. In addition, it will be used to finance a programme to provide the world´s first fully disposable chromatography system for biopharmaceutical production.

"As a major industrial group with significant involvement in pharmaceutical bioprocessing, DSM promises to be an excellent strategic fit for Upfront and a very good complement to existing investors whose continued support demonstrates confidence in Upfront and our strategic goal to become the leading provider of biopharmaceutical separation services", commented Anders Weber, CEO of Upfront Chromatography. "This investment will further grow our sales capabilities enabling the Company to maximise on its expanding customer pipeline".

Leendert Staal, CEO of DSM Pharmaceutical Products said: "Upfront is at the forefront of technological breakthroughs in down stream processing. Through our investment we want to support further developments in the company which will benefit both DSM and Upfront."

Over the last decade, Upfront has developed a proprietary technology platform, Rhobust™, that purifies biopharmaceuticals and functional proteins directly from complex media. The Company has built a strong reputation as the leading provider of separation services for isolation of high-value functional proteins, from industrial process streams, and is currently developing the world´s largest industrial chromatography installation.

Rhobust technology has also been shown to be particularly suitable for bioprocessing, enabling efficient commercial-scale recovery and purification of monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins and other biomolecules direct from blood plasma or bioreactors. The tremendous potential of Upfront´s single use adsorption systems will contribute to DSM´s downstream processing solutions for monoclonal antibodies and other biopharmaceutical proteins.

 

About Upfront Chromatography

Upfront Chromatography A/S develops and manufactures innovative products and technologies for extraction and recovery of biotherapeutics, functional biomolecules, macromolecular complexes, and even living cells, directly from bioreactors and industrial side-streams.

For customised separation services, Upfront offers access to its proprietary Rhobust™, universal process platform combined with extensive technical and regulatory support. From a feasibility study to commissioning of the final installation, Upfront works with its customers to develop adsorbents, ligand chemistry, columns and other hardware to optimise process performance. Upfront are currently developing the world´s largest chromatography system.

Upfront´s research, development and ISO9001-compliant manufacturing facility is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. Please visit: www.upfront-dk.com

 

About DSM Venturing

DSM Venturing is an active investor in emerging companies and Venture Capital Funds in DSM´s strategic growth fields Nutrition, Pharma and Performance Materials. DSM Venturing´s mission is to explore emerging markets and technologies in these strategic growth fields in order to enhance DSM''''''''''''''''s product portfolio and create value. DSM Venturing also plays an active role in the development of several new DSM business opportunities in the so-called emerging business areas Biomedical, Industrial (White) Biotechnology, Specialty Packaging and Personalized Nutrition. For more information about DSM Venturing see www.dsm-venturing.com.

 

About InnovationsKapital

InnovationsKapital was founded in 1994 and is a private and independent venture capital firm for innovative growth companies. The investment strategy is focused on Nordic investments within ICT and Healthcare & Life Sciences - dynamic sectors that are rapidly expanding and where Nordic research plays an important role. To date, more than 58 investments have been made. Successful exits include Altitun, Arexis, BioInvent/Alligator, Carmen Systems, Formex, Kreatel Communications, NordNav and Spotfire. InnovationsKapital advises four venture capital funds aggregating EUR 317 million in committed capital. The capital is provided by highly reputable Swedish and international institutional investors. Further information about InnovationsKapital can be found at www.innkap.se

 

About NBGI Ventures

NBGI Ventures manages two funds with EUR 90 million in committed capital, and leads investments in early stage technology companies particularly those active in the medical technologies and healthcare sectors. NBGI Ventures has a team of 5 professionals with offices in London and Athens and considers investments across Europe, including Greece. www.nbgiventures.com

 

For further information, please contact:

At Upfront Chromatography:

Anders Weber, CEO
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At Northbank Communications:

Ben Routley, Account Manager
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T: +44 (0) 1260 296500

Upfront Chromatography A/S - Oliefabriksvej 51 B, 2770 Kastrup, Copenhagen, DENMARK- Email: Contact@upfront-dk.com

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