European Innovation Council Fund Invests 1M Euros in Colzyx

Colzyx AB (Colzyx) and the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) have signed an agreement for a 1 million euros investment by the EIC Fund.
 
This investment is the result of the 5.5 million euros in financial support from the Horizon 2020/EIC Accelerator program that Colzyx was awarded in December 2019. The support consists of a grant part and an investment part. The investment is made by the EIC Fund and totals 3 million euros. The investment is part of the “blended finance” initiative. 
 
The current 1 million euros investment is the first part, and the second part will be invested once Colzyx has reached specific development milestones.

“We are very pleased that we now have concluded the agreement with the EIC Fund. This investment will help Colzyx to accelerate the development of WOUNDCOM, aiming for a CE mark,” said Eskil Söderlind, CEO of Colzyx.
 
Colzyx develops a medical device product called WOUNDCOM in the field of wound healing and the investment will be used to complete the product’s development, including a clinical study, for the CE marking.
 
The need for new forms of wound healing products is great in the areas of infection after surgery, infection of acute and burn wounds, venous chronic leg ulcers and in ​​chronic wounds in patients with diabetes. WOUNDCOM has the potential to be used in all these situations, as well as in additional areas where there is a pronounced need for better and faster wound healing and a simultaneous effect against bacterial infections.
 
The emergence and spread of multi-resistant bacteria pose serious threat to human health. It is predicted that within 20-30 years, more people may die because of infections by multi-resistant bacteria than by cancer. WOUNDCOM can play an important part in the fight against such infections by both accelerating wound healing and at the same time preventing infections with multi-resistant bacteria.
 
“The fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria is highly relevant and I am happy to announce the EIC Fund’s investment in Colzyx, helping the company to bring their innovative wound matrix closer to the market.” said Nicklas Bergman, member of the EIC Fund Investment Committee.

Colzyx is a biotechnology company focused on wound care. The company develops WOUNDCOM, a new innovative wound dressing that accelerates wound healing while having an antibacterial effect. Colzyx is located at Medicon Village, Lund. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 947034.
 
Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between 500.000 and 15 million euros) in European high impact and deep tech startups and scale ups. With a long-term perspective, the EIC Fund invests in companies from any sector, across all EU member states as well as in associated countries. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialization of disruptive technologies. This is achieved by crowding-in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding. The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.