Algenex raises €7.4 million in financing round led by MasterLux.

Algenex, a Madrid, Spain-based b biotechnology  company  developing  disruptive  baculovirus-based technologies for the production of recombinant biologics, announced raising €7.4 million ($8.7M).

The round was led by MasterLux, an investor advised by Cleon Capital and Vita Advisory, and backed by Columbus Venture Partners, through Columbus Life Science Fund II.

The new resources will be used to support the development of Algenex's own and patented technology, CrisBio®, for its application to human health projects and to strengthen its portfolio of veterinary vaccines, the first of which is in the process of being registered by of the European Medicines Agency. Another part will go to optimize the new production facilities in Tres Cantos that the firm will officially inaugurate in September and that could be used to produce biotechnological products against pandemics such as that caused by the coronavirus.

Algenex, led by CEO Claudia Jiménez, developed CrisBio, a baculovirus vector expression platform used to produce biotechnological products for the development of human and veterinary vaccines, among other applications. By harnessing the power of pupae to act as natural bioreactors, CrisBio® is an alternative to current industrial bioreactor-based production technologies, offering benefits including linear scalability, reduced production costs, and increased productivity.