Laigo Bio has raised €11.5 million in seed financing to accelerate development of its SureTAC targeted protein degradation platform. The company plans to use the funding to push its oncology programs toward clinical readiness and expand discovery efforts focused on autoimmune disease and graft rejection. Alongside the financing milestone, the company confirmed the appointment of Dr Matthew Baker as Chief Executive Officer.
Based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Laigo Bio is developing bispecific antibody therapeutics that degrade membrane-bound proteins long considered resistant to traditional drug discovery. Its proprietary SureTAC technology brings disease-driving surface proteins into proximity with surface E3 ligase enzymes, enabling targeted degradation that offers deep pathway inhibition while sparing healthy tissue function.
The company has generated promising in vitro and in vivo evidence across programs addressing PD-L1, VEGF, and a difficult-to-drug Wnt pathway receptor in oncology. Its platform is designed to achieve strong selectivity for diseased tissues, which the company believes will support improved safety profiles compared to conventional approaches. Laigo Bio intends to advance its oncology pipeline through preclinical development before pursuing partnerships to take programs into clinical trials.
The seed round was co-led by Kurma Partners and Curie Capital and supported by a syndicate that included Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures, Eurazeo, the Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht Region, and Cancer Research Horizons. The company was originally founded by the Oncode Institute, Oncode Bridge Fund, and Argobio Studio.
The newly appointed CEO, Dr Baker, brings more than two decades of leadership experience in oncology and inflammatory drug development, having previously held senior positions including CEO of NeoPhore, CSO of Abzena, and CEO and CSO of Antitope. He also serves as a non-executive director at Fusion Antibodies.
The company expects the new capital to accelerate its immunology portfolio, which currently includes three therapeutic programs targeting selected autoimmune and inflammatory indications as well as transplant rejection. The investment also deepens the involvement of several leading European investors with track records in building next-generation biotechnology companies.
KEY QUOTES
“This seed funding is a strong endorsement of both the scientific foundation and the unique potential of our approach enabling selective degradation of membrane-bound targets involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. With these resources, we are well positioned to initiate discovery efforts in auto-immunity and to advance our oncology programs through preclinical development. Our team remains focused on achieving key preclinical milestones and progressing our first-in-class lead programs toward early clinical evaluation, to deliver transformative therapies for patients.”
Dr Matthew Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Laigo Bio
“Kurma is excited to support a company with such a promising technology platform targeting disease pathways that have long been deemed undruggable.”
Thierry Laugel, Chairman of the Management Board of Argobio and Managing Partner at Kurma Partners
“Curie Capital is proud to support development of Laigo Bio’s SureTac unique platform technology because of its promise in addressing very specific therapeutic targets in diseases with high unmet medical need.”
Mariëtte Roesink, Managing Partner, Curie Capital
