Innate raises 15M euros in intermediate financing

France's Innate Pharma SAS, a biopharmaceutical company specialized ininnate immunity, announces today that it has raised 15 million euros ($18.2 million) in a third round of financing. In addition to existing shareholders, the round includes two further international investors, Denmark's Novo Nordisk A/S and NIF Ventures, Japan's leading venture capital firm, and underscores the confidence placed in its innovative approach based on the pharmacology of non-conventional lymphocyte populations (such as natural killer and gamma delta T cells), the company notes. The new round will enable Innate to continue its current clinical development programs and begin developing new candidate molecules identified by its research division, it adds.

This new money means Innate has raised more than 40 million euros since its creation in 1999. The three new investors have different profiles that will complement the firm's existing investor base: Novo Nordisk A/S, a business partner of the company; NIF Ventures, which opens up opportunities in east Asia, and Quilvest brings experience in private and public equity asset management.

Innate chief executive Herve Brailly says: "the arrival of a Japanese investor opens up the possibilities of developing our business in Japan, the number two market worldwide for pharmaceuticals, as well as demonstrating our appeal to international funds. Furthermore, the fact that Novo Nordisk is ready to invest in Innate a few months after concluding a partnership deal with us shows how confident it is in Innate's technology and in the team that is implementing it."