SRTD Biotech Secures 31.5 Million Euros for RNA Therapies

SRTD Biotech, a biotechnology company based in Jülich and founded in 2019, is receiving 31.5 million euros in new capital. The seed financing round is led by Mérieux Equity Partners. NRW.BANK and the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund are participating as co-lead investors. Other investors include Lilly Ventures, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), and the Anobis Family Office.

NRW.BANK alone is investing 7 million euros in the company through its NRW.Venture EU Tech&Scale Fund. SRTD Biotech plans to use the funding to accelerate the preclinical development of its RNA-based therapeutic agents. The initial focus is on potential therapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and fibrosis.

The startup was founded by Dr. Bernd Hoffmann and Dr. Heribert Bohlen at the Jülich Research Center. It is developing a novel approach designed to activate therapeutic compounds almost exclusively within diseased cells.

In doing so, the company is addressing a key challenge in modern medicine: Many effective therapies not only target pathologically altered cells but also damage healthy tissue. This can cause significant side effects, particularly in the treatment of cancer, and limit therapeutic options.

RNA Technology Aims to Distinguish Between Healthy and Diseased Cells

The technological foundation of SRTD Biotech is what is known as selectively expressed RNA, or seRNA for short. These are specially developed RNA molecules that are designed to be activated only under specific cellular conditions.

Unlike conventional RNA-based approaches, the company’s concept links therapeutic activity to characteristic features of diseased cells.

The RNA initially enters the cells in an inactive form. If the molecule detects certain disease-specific properties, it is activated and enables the production of a therapeutically active protein. This protein is designed to specifically destroy the affected cell. In healthy cells, however, the RNA remains inactive and, according to the company, is degraded.

In this way, the treatment is intended to be more strictly limited to diseased tissue, thereby reducing the risk of adverse effects.

This approach could be particularly promising for cancer therapy, where distinguishing as precisely as possible between healthy and diseased cells is crucial. In addition, SRTD Biotech sees potential applications in autoimmune diseases, fibrosis, and viral and genetic disorders.

However, the technology is still in preclinical development. It remains to be seen whether the targeted selectivity, efficacy, and tolerability can be confirmed in clinical trials involving humans.

NRW.BANK Invests Seven Million Euros

With this investment, NRW.BANK is supporting yet another technology-intensive company from North Rhine-Westphalia. The seven million euros come from the NRW.Venture EU Tech&Scale Fund, which focuses on innovative and capital-intensive growth companies.

Key investment areas include, among others, biotechnology, medical technology, deep tech, green tech, and industrial technologies.

As part of an InvestEU partnership with the European Commission, NRW.BANK can invest up to an additional 200 million euros in young growth companies through a corresponding guarantee agreement.

Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte, a member of the Executive Board of NRW.BANK, emphasizes the importance of long-term financing for translating scientific findings into medical applications. In biotechnology in particular, she notes, substantial investments are necessary before new therapeutic approaches can be clinically tested and potentially approved.

For SRTD Biotech, this financing round represents an important step toward the potential medical application of its technology. The participation of several specialized life sciences investors not only provides the company with additional financial resources but also grants it access to industry-specific expertise.

The next stages of development will show whether the selective RNA approach can be sufficiently validated under preclinical conditions to subsequently proceed to clinical trials.

With a total funding of 31.5 million euros, SRTD Biotech has a substantial capital base to drive this development phase forward.