Biotech startup cellvie gets USD 5.5 million to develop treatments for mitochondria dysfunction

The Harvard spin-off, which is a leader in therapeutic mitochondria transplantation (TMT), acquired USD 5.5 million in funding, allowing the startup to be Series A-ready by the end of 2023. cellvie participated in the Venture Leader Biotech program in 2021.

A spin-off of Harvard Medical School that recently moved to a new HQ at the Technopark Zurich, cellvie was built on pioneering research on the potential of therapeutic mitochondria transplantation (TMT). The recently secured funding will be used to accelerate and expand the scientific development of the startup's mitochondria platform and to strengthen the organizational foundations in preparation for a Series A funding round.

Mitochondria, which are known as the powerhouse of the cell, generate most of its needed energy and operate as critical intra-cellular communication nodes. Mitochondria dysfunction has been tied to a host of diseases, ranging from neurodegenerative ailments, over heart attacks and strokes, to age-related degeneration. National Geographic published a feature about the potential of this kind of therapy last year.

"Whilst Mitochondria have been known as disease targets for a long time, treating them has proven challenging", notes Dr. James McCully, a co-founder of cellvie and inventor of TMT. That's why he turned to transplanting viable mitochondria to reinvigorate the cell energy metabolism, which was impaired due to ischemia, an undersupply of oxygen that arises in medical conditions such as heart attacks or stroke and during organ transplantation.

"Given the insights gained and treatment successes shown by my scientific co-founders, we have always viewed mitochondria as a potential new category of medicines," says Dr. Alexander Schueller, co-founder and CEO of cellvie. "To realize the modality's potential, we have therefore focused our efforts over the past two years on scalable productization—developing an allogeneic off-the-shelf product—and research on new therapeutic applications of mitochondria—such as in gene therapy delivery and aging-related degeneration."

As to the use funding and the startup's growth, Dr. Schueller notes that "while many companies need to conserve cash and slow down shortly before raising their next round of funding, we are now in the position to speed up and form an even stronger basis to immediately and efficiently put the Series A funding to work."

As Dr. Schueller stated in an interview with Venturelab, he became acquainted with Dr. McCully and his research in 2017. He was "intrigued by the elegance of the approach," Schueller decided to pursue the development of the new treatment modality as a new venture, which lead to the foundation of cellvie.

Taiho Ventures LLC joins Kizoo Technology Capital as one of cellvie's primary investors and will take a board seat to help the company realize its ambitions. "We have recognized the tremendous potential in the therapeutic use of mitochondria, particularly in the fight against cancer, and we believe that cellvie is very well positioned to become a leader in this emerging field," says Sakae Asanuma, President and CEO at Taiho Ventures LLC. Kizoo is also a significant co-investor in this round, having gained even more confidence in the technology and the potential of the team since leading the company's seed round in 2020.

Frank Schueler, Managing Director at Kizoo and member of the board at cellvie says: "The team has done a tremendous job in advancing our understanding and pushing the boundaries of mitochondria-based therapies. So it was only natural for us to continue to support cellvie as one of our key startups."

In 2021, cellvie was chosen as a Venture Leader Biotech, which took ten biotech entrepreneurs to Boston to meet with investors and experts and strengthen their networks to accelerate their startups' growth. The startup was also included in the China-Switzerland Innovation and Entrepreneurship Pitchinar, which showcased the two countries’ innovation potential and fostered the exchange between Swiss and Chinese startups. The application phase for Venture Leaders Biotech 2023 opened today.