Oversubscribed round led by LSP will fund accelerated product development and commercial operations in the U.S.

PARIS – DNA Script today announced an oversubscribed Series B fundraising of $38.5M led by LSP, one of Europe’s largest and most experienced healthcare investment firms. Bpifrance, through its Large Venture fund, joined the round, alongside existing investors Illumina Ventures, M. Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Kurma Partners and Idinvest Partners. The proceeds will enable DNA Script to accelerate the development of the company’s first products based on its industry-leading enzymatic technology for de novo synthesis of nucleic acids. The company is prioritizing the recruitment of top talent in the U.S. for its product development and commercialization teams in preparation for product launch, as well as on expanding its Paris-based research team.

DNA Script’s innovative technology provides affordable, rapid, high-quality production of important genomic experimental precursors, such as oligonucleotides. The technology overcomes many of the inefficiencies of today’s synthetic DNA production. It features a novel biochemical process for nucleic acids synthesis based on the use of highly efficient enzymes, thus enabling enhanced performance while minimizing the use of harsh chemicals. The product portfolio based on DNA Script’s proprietary enzymatic synthesis platform will enable molecular biology researchers to accelerate their experiments — with the goal of moving from design to results within a day for a broad range of applications.

“In less than two years since our last financing round, the DNA Script team has developed enzymatic synthesis technology at an incredibly fast pace and extended the company’s lead in this exciting and quickly expanding sector. As we announced earlier this year at the AGBT General Meeting, DNA Script was the first company to enzymatically synthesize a 200mer oligo de novo with an average coupling efficiency that rivals the best organic chemical processes in use today. Our technology is now reliable enough for its first commercial applications, which we believe will deliver the promise of same-day results to researchers everywhere, with DNA synthesis that can be completed in just a few hours,” said Thomas Ybert, CEO and cofounder of DNA Script.

“We are thrilled to lead this round with participation of such a respected group of founders and investors. We see DNA Script as the clear leader in this nascent field,” said Joachim (JR) Rothe, Managing Partner at LSP and new member of DNA Script’s board. “The progress made by DNA Script in only two years is amazing, and we believe the company will shift the current DNA synthesis paradigm, not only in the research market but also in the broader pharma business — for personalized therapies and diagnostics in particular.”

About DNA Script
Founded in 2014 in Paris, DNA Script is the world’s leading company in manufacturing de novo synthetic nucleic acids using an enzymatic technology. The company aims at accelerating innovation in life sciences and technology through rapid, affordable, and high-quality DNA synthesis. DNA Script’s approach leverages nature’s billions of years of evolution in synthesizing DNA to enable genome scale synthesis. The Company’s technology has the potential to greatly accelerate the development of new therapeutics, sustainable chemicals production, improved crops as well as data storage.
www.dnascript.co

About LSP
LSP (Life Sciences Partners) is an independent European investment firm, providing financing for private and public life sciences companies. LSP’s mission is to connect investors to inventors, focusing on unmet medical needs. Since the late 1980s, LSP’s management has invested in about 100 innovative enterprises, many of which have grown to become leaders of the global life sciences industry. With over €2.0 billion ($2.3 billion) of investment capital raised to date and offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP is one of Europe’s leading life sciences investors. LSP also invests in public companies through its Euronext-listed LSP Life Sciences Fund (Bloomberg: LSP NA). For more information, please visit:
www.lspvc.com

About Bpifrance and the Large Venture fund
Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extrafinancial services (training, consultancy…) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export…). Large Venture is a EUR 1 billion fund dedicated to innovative companies in healthcare, IT and greentech sectors. The fund is able to invest amounts greater than EUR 10 million and thus ensures the equity financing continuum of the venture capital actors who invest earlier in the development of the company.
For more information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr and presse.bpifrance.fr – Follow us on Twitter: @Bpifrance – @BpifrancePresse

About Illumina Ventures
Illumina Ventures is an independently-managed, healthcare-focused venture firm in a strategic partnership with Illumina, with the vision to unlock the power of the genome. As an early-stage, value-add investor, we help entrepreneurs develop breakthrough science and technologies into market-leading companies to transform healthcare. We focus on investment in life science tools, therapeutics, diagnostics, and personal wellness.
www.illuminaventures.com

About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over Europe, the US and China. The firm focuses on paradigm shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners seeks to invest as a lead or cornerstone investor in seed, start-ups, corporate spin-offs and late stage companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 45 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €1.9 billion under management. For more information: www.sofinnova.fr.

About M Ventures
M Ventures is the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Its mandate is to invest in innovative technologies and products with the potential to significantly impact the company’s core business areas. From its headquarters in Amsterdam and offices in the US and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in transformational ideas driven by great entrepreneurs. M Ventures takes an active role in its portfolio companies and teams up with entrepreneurs and co-investors to translate innovation towards commercial success. M Ventures has a significant focus on early stage investing and company creation including the creation of spin-offs to leverage the company’s science and technology base. For more information, visit www.m-ventures.com.

About Kurma Partners
Founded in 2009, Kurma Partners is a leading European venture capital firm investing in biotherapeutics (Kurma Biofund I, II and III) as well as in diagnostic and digital health (Kurma Diagnostics). Kurma is currently managing € 400 million. Kurma’s unique investment strategy combines the creation of companies on most disruptive sciences and technologies, and the financing of most promising venture-stage European companies. Kurma Partners operates from Paris, France (headquarters) and Munich, Germany.
www.kurmapartners.com

About Idinvest Partners
Idinvest Partners is a leading European mid-market private equity firm. With €8bn under management, the firm has developed several areas of expertise including innovative startup venture capital transactions; mid-market private debt, i.e. single-tranche, senior and subordinated debt; primary and secondary investment and private equity advisory services. Founded in 1997, Idinvest Partners used to belong to the Allianz Group until 2010, when it branched out as an independent firm. In January 2018, Idinvest Partners became a subsidiary of Eurazeo, a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €17bn in assets under management, including approximately €11bn from investment partners, invested in over 350 companies.
www.idinvest.com