TISSIUM Closes 39 Million Euro Series B Funding Round

TISSIUM, a privately-owned life science company developing fully synthetic, biomorphic programmable polymers, has raised 38.75 million euros ($42.78 million) in a Series B round of funding. This funding round comprises new investors BNP Paribas Développement, the European Investment Fund (EIF), M&L Investments, ValQuest Partners in addition to TISSIUM’s returning investors Bpifrance, CM-CIC Innovation, Cap Décisif Management, Omnes Capital and Sofinnova Partners.
 
The funding raised in this round will be used to support the company’s global expansion of its platform of polymers across a variety of therapeutic fields, including nerve repair, cardiovascular and gastroenterology, among others.
 
The TISSIUM platform leverages proprietary technology, initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, that serves as the foundation of a family of fully synthetic, biomorphic and programmable polymers. These polymers are designed to be used inside the body as sealants, adhesives, barriers, plugs or as a vehicle for drug delivery, as well as implantable devices created outside of the body using 3D printing technology.
 
In addition to supporting the growth of the platform, the funding is expected to support the broader strategy of creating a streamlined clinical development and regulatory process across multiple geographies. While the company remains headquartered in Paris, these efforts will also be focused towards the United States out of its newly opened Boston affiliate office.

Streamlined innovation and product development will also be simplified as a result of the completion of TISSIUM’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Lille, France.
 
In addition, following the completion of the Series B, Jay Watkins, a serial Medtech entrepreneur and executive, is joining TISSIUM’s Board of Directors as an independent chairman.
 
Christophe Bancel, CEO of TISSIUM, said: “This new round of funding is a testament to the support we continue to receive from investors for our strategy and vision for the broad TISSIUM ecosystem of products that we have in development. We look forward to moving swiftly towards multiple verticals and expanding into new clinical fields in the coming months. We are thrilled to have Jay joining our board as chairman. He brings tremendous experience and depth in building medtech companies into next-generation leaders and will allow us to shape and expend our ecosystem into multiple verticals. I take the opportunity to thank our co-founder, Bernard Gilly, co-founder and chairman of iBionext, who has led the company as its chairman since our inception.”
 
Jay Watkins, chairman of TISSIUM, added: “I am delighted to join TISSIUM as chairman. I have been impressed with the breadth of applications for its biomorphic programmable polymers across a wide range of therapeutic fields. The organization has already demonstrated its ability to innovate and create novel product opportunities and I look forward to working with the team to extend our impact in the medtech space.”
 
TISSIUM is a privately-owned life sciences company based in Paris that develops and commercializes a unique biopolymer platform to address various unmet clinical needs. The company’s platform is based on a proprietary polymer family with unique properties including the ability to conform to, and integrate with, surrounding tissue to enable natural healing. Furthermore, the modular design of the polymers enables customization to match tissue-specific requirements for different therapeutic areas. The company also develops delivery and activation devices for enhanced performance and usability of its family of polymers. The company’s technology is based on world-class research and intellectual property from the laboratories of Professor Robert Langer (MIT) and Professor Jeffrey M. Karp (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), who co-founded the company in 2013.