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Big news from our portfolio: Kasvu Therapeutics has announced a €30 million closing of its Series A, the largest Series A ever raised by a Finnish drug development company.
The previous benchmark was around €12 million. The bar for Finnish biotech just moved.
“Our team has been very hands-on spinning Kasvu from the University of Helsinki, leading its pre-seed round in 2023, and supporting their maturing toward international funding. Their Series A validates the high quality and great potential of Finnish academic research in life sciences,” says Pekka Simula, Partner, Innovestor Life Science.
Kasvu in a nutshell: Potent, rapid-acting and safe neuroplastogens – a game changer in the treatment of brain disorders
Psychedelics such as LSD have been much hyped in the 2020s, with already billions of euros invested in their therapeutic potential. This hype comes from exciting signals of psychedelics triggering a ’brain rewire’, and promising treatment results in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression. However, the associated hallucinations leave them out of reach for millions of people as they need to be administered under clinical supervising – not to mention the other challenges associated with a molecule like LSD.
Neuroplasticity without hallucinogenic effects
Kasvu’s development is based on the breakthrough discovery of its scientific founders: Psychedelics mediate brain plasticity and hallucinations through two distinct receptors in neurons. It is possible to design molecules that act as neuroplastogens while not causing hallucinations.
Phrased in a non-scientific language: Kasvu develops a first-in-class medicine to treat depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders by boosting the brain’s own ability to adapt and heal, based on an already clinically validated mechanism, without hallucinogenic effects or other safety concerns related to psychedelics. Depression is a globally leading cause of disability and impacts over 300 million people, so the excitement in a potential new treatment option is well grounded. Kasvu is planning to launch first clinical studies in the second half of 2027.
The science behind Kasvu builds on decades of research by Professor Eero Castrén and his lab at the University of Helsinki, and their more recent collaboration with Professor Ilpo Vattulainen, also from the University of Helsinki.
€30 million Series A backed by leading life science investors
The Series A was led by Hadean Ventures, a leading European life science VC fund, with participation from Tesi, the Finnish Drug Discovery Center, Nordic Science Investments, Stephen Industries, Helsinki University Funds, and Innovestor Life Science Fund.
“The past few years have fundamentally changed what the field believes is possible in depression. Clinical data with psychedelics and other rapid acting approaches has shown that engaging neuroplasticity can deliver fast and durable benefits where decades of monoamine-based drugs have fallen short, and pharma has taken note,” says Georgina Askeland, incoming Board member and Principal at Hadean Ventures. “Kasvu is exceptionally well placed to define this new class of therapeutics.”
Read the full announcement: https://www.kasvutx.com/news-series-a-funding-round
More information:
Pekka Simula, Partner, Innovestor Life Science
pekka.simula@innovestor.fi
+358 40 730 0445