Integra Therapeutics, an spin-off from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a global leader in creating cutting-edge gene writing tools to make advanced therapies safer and more effective, will receive a grant of €2.5 million and equity investment of up to €8 million from the European Commission via the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program. 

This programme aims to propel innovative European startups to a stage of development in which they are sufficiently mature to secure private funding. Currently, the EIC Accelerator is the only programme that combines grants and equity for emerging European deeptech companies. In this edition, of a total of 969 deeptech companies, the EC chose only 68 to benefit from the funds in a highly competitive process. The EIC Accelerator is currently the only program that combines grants and equity for emerging European deeptech companies.  

FiCAT, state-of-the-art genetic writing technology platform

Integra Therapeutics will earmark the initial €2.5 million to pre-marketing activities of its FiCAT platform for T cell and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) engineering to develop cell therapies in rare diseases, autoimmune diseases, and oncology. In parallel, the compant will generate FiCAT proof of concept data on its first gene therapy, using systemic administration with non-viral vectors through lipid nanoparticles (LNP) to treat a serious pediatric hepatic disease. 

The European Commission plans to join Integra Therapeutics’s capital in 2025, which is when Series A is anticipated to close, and it may include up to €8 million to advance the clinical development of the first gene therapy product mentioned above. 

“The funding from the EIC Accelerator is a huge impetus for Integra Therapeutics and our FiCAT gene writing platform because it will lead to the development of the first therapeutic product in the preclinical and clinical regulatory phases for a disease with a huge medical need in children that is currently unmet,” said Dr. Avencia Sánchez-Mejías, CEO and co-founder of Integra Therapeutics. “I am pleased to see that 21% of the companies chosen are led by women, which is an improvement over the previous call, although there is still room for improvement in the gender gap in leadership positions in our sector,” she added. 

Integra Therapeutics will also promote the expansion of the FiCAT platform to extra-hepatic indications. In this sense, the company is planning to award licenses and co-develop new therapies with the goal of allowing the maximum number patients to benefit from this state-of-the art technology. 
 

UPF, committed to technological development and knowledge transfer

This success is yet another example of how the University, through its support and collaboration, contributes to developing innovative solutions that can have a major impact on the global arena.

Vanesa Daza: “This success reaffirms our commitment to the valorization of research results, innovation, and it encourages us to continue working intensively to promote and support our startups so that they can achieve their goals and contribute to technological and economic progress”.

The EIC Accelerator grant is an important milestone for the spinoff and for the University, which is thus rewarded for its commitment to innovation and the development of projects with a high potential for growth and impact. Vanesa Daza, vice-rector for Knowledge Transfer at UPF, highlighted that: “This grant is a great recognition of the talent and disruptive nature of Integra Therapeutics, and also showcases the task of promoting knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship carried out at the University. This success reaffirms our commitment to the valorization of research results, innovation, and it encourages us to continue working intensively to promote and support our startups so that they can achieve their goals and contribute to technological and economic progress”.

It should also be noted that Integra Therapeutics is the second UPF company to secure this prestigious grant, following MiWEndo Solutions in the 2020 edition. This further underscores the University’s commitment to fomenting innovation and entrepreneurship, demonstrating the effectiveness of its startup support programmes.

Europe is committed to business innovation earmarking 411 million euros for startups and SMEs

This European call offers support to emerging companies and SMEs with innovative products, services or business models capable of creating new markets or transforming existing ones, both in Europe and around the world. In addition to financial support, the selected projects benefit from a wide range of business acceleration services, including access to experts, companies, investors and other stakeholders in the ecosystem.

The selected companies will receive estimated funding of 411 million euros, of which up to 165 million euros will come in grants and about 245 million euros in the form of capital. Almost all selected companies (96%) will receive the full blended financing option, which consists of a combination of grants and equity investments. Equity investments will be made through the EIC Fund, the EIC’s specific venture investment arm that attracts other investors to increase overall investment to more than three times the average EIC investment. The selected companies are distributed geographically across 17 countries, including five proposals from countries in the process of expansion while 21% of the selected companies are led by women.