Glycanostics receives prestigious European Innovation Council grant
21/10/2021
In September, 40 Crowdberry investors, alongside the CB Growth ONE investment fund, invested in Slovak biotechnological company Glycanostics, providing capital worth €1 million. Glycanostics will now receive an additional €2 million from the European Council, becoming only the third Slovak company, after MultiplexDX and Sensoneo, to have received such a European Innovation Council grant.
Slovak biotechnological company Glycanostics announces it is one of 65 companies to be chosen in the pan-European EIC Accelerator Challenge out of more than 4,000 applicants. The company, which operates in the field of early cancer diagnosis, is the third in Slovakia’s history to receive such a European Innovation Council grant, worth almost €2 million. Glycanostics will use the funds to complete development of its diagnostic test for clinical validation, as well as patenting biomarkers to prepare the company for the CE registration process necessary for products traded on the EU Single Market. The news confirms the view of investors on the Crowdberry platform and the CB Growth ONE fund who, convinced by the potential of Glycanostics’ product and the exceptional team behind it, backed the company with a €1 million investment.
The EIC Accelerator is a European Innovation Council financial scheme and part of the Horizon Europe programme. Its goal is to support further development of ground-breaking innovative solutions by young companies and SMEs, with a substantial part of the programme focusing on strategic innovations in the field of healthcare, as well as digital technologies and projects supporting the goals of the European Green Deal. This year, the European Innovation Council has distributed €136 million in total amongst 65 European companies in the form of grants, including the one for Glycanostics. An additional €227 million is available to companies as direct investment from the EIC fund.
“For us, obtaining this prestigious grant represents an acknowledgement of our 10-year research effort as well as a show of trust. It also proves that Slovakia, too, is home to ground-breaking and innovative solutions. We are delighted to play an integral part in shaping the Slovak biotech industry, which is now gaining more importance than ever before.” Eva Kováčová, CEO.
“As we communicated to the EIC jury, for us it is mainly a question of values. We have developed a disruptive technology that could help save the lives of millions around the world. At Glycanostics, we consider it our duty to make this innovation available to patients around the globe as quicky as possible. At the same time, we want to create new jobs with high added value in Slovakia and thus help skilled workers take part in shaping our future,” adds Kováčová.
Glycanostics was founded in 2017 by two internationally recognised Slovak scientists – Ján Tkáč and Tomáš Bertók, both originally from the Institute of Chemistry of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The company focuses on early cancer diagnosis and aims at bringing an accurate, non-invasive and affordable prostate cancer test to the market. It constitutes a ground-breaking method based on a blood test with high scalability (potential to be applied to another 10 types of cancer) and international commercial potential. On the business development side, the company is supported by Eva Kováčová, who joined the team at the beginning of this year. She brings many years of experience in the areas of complex international pharmaceutical mergers, acquisitions and licensing processes.
“Health is immensely important to each and every one of us, and thanks to the talented people from Glycanostics the market will soon have the most advanced method for early and accurate prostate cancer diagnosis. It could save many lives all over the world. Moreover, the fast-growing segment of biotech, whose value is growing globally, is surely destined to succeed. These are the factors that convinced Crowdberry investors to provide the company with growth capital. This sends a clear message that, instead of owning the shares of a listed US company, investors prefer to co-own Glycanostics and take part in bringing a Slovak product to the global market,” says Branislav Hóz, investment manager at Crowdberry.
At the beginning of September, the Crowdberry investment platform that focuses on direct investments in dynamic Czech and Slovak companies and real estate projects provided Glycanostics with growth investment of €1 million. The provided capital was financed in co-investment together with the CB Growth One investment fund. Glycanostics is the third company from Crowberry’s portfolio (after MultiplexDX and Sensoneo) and the third in Slovakia’s history to have received an EIC grant.