August.09.2019
Orrick has advised U.S. life sciences investor GreyBird Ventures on their investment in Germany based molecular diagnostics company GNA Biosolutions GmbH. GreyBird Ventures is the lead investor in the $13.5 million Series C financing round that also included new investors Occident and Wachtumsfonds Bayern, as well as existing investors SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, UVC Partners, Mey Capital Matrix, KfW, and btov Partners.
GNA Biosolutions has pioneered a next generation nucleic acid amplification technology (Pulse Controlled Amplification – PCA) in the field of molecular diagnostics. The company’s PCA platform amplifies nucleic acids captured directly from complex samples such as whole blood, sputum, and nasal swabs within minutes, without the need for additional sample preparation and with minimal hands-on time.
“We are excited to work with the GNA team and look forward to supporting this stage of the company. Rapid molecular diagnostics are key to patient care across an increasingly broad range of therapeutic areas, and particularly infectious diseases. We believe PCA technology will resolve many limitations of existing molecular diagnostics, enabling fast therapeutic decisions that improve patient care,” said Tom Miller, partner at GreyBird Ventures, who will now serve as Chairman of GNA’s Board.
GreyBird Ventures invests in and helps to build companies that solve critical diagnostic problems in precision medicine. The firm was founded in 2013 and is based near Boston, Massachusetts. The investment in GNA is GreyBird Venture’s second investment in Germany as they are also the lead investor in Hummingbird Diagnostics GmbH, a transaction that had also been advised by Orrick.
GNA Biosolutions is a private molecular diagnostics company located nearby Munich, Germany. Their proprietary PCA technology offers a novel, ultrafast, and cost-effective molecular diagnostic platform developed for a number of therapeutic areas, including infectious diseases and biothreats.
GreyBird Ventures was advised by an Orrick team lead by Munich based technology transactions partners Dr. Jörg Ritter and Dr. Fabian von Samson-Himmelstjerna. They were supported by associates Dr. Markus Schmid (M&A and private equity, Munich) and Robert Weinhold (data privacy, IT/IP, Düsseldorf).