News
AVANTIUM COMPLETES EUR18 MILLION
FINANCING ROUND
Amsterdam, 29.10.2008 - Amsterdam, October 29, 2008 – Avantium announced today the successful completion of a EUR 18 million private financing round. Avantium is active in the development and commerciali-
zation of Furanics, Avantium’s next generation biofuel and bioplastic, and the improvement of pharmaceutical products. The financing will be used to accelerate its two proprietary development programs. The focus of the next-generation biofuel and bioplastic program is on large scale production of Furanics and extensive car testing. Avantium’s pharmaceutical program encompasses the improvement of selected existing drugs. Aescap Venture acted as lead investor in the financing. Other partners of the investment syndicate are Capricorn Cleantech Fund, ING Corporate Investments and Navitas Capital.
Avantium welcomes the equity investment of prominent investors, Aescap, Capricorn, ING and Navitas. The company will use EUR 10 million of the funding to accelerate its proprietary development programs. In particular, the company will advance its Furanics biofuels and bioplastics program to the next phase, including large scale production of Furanics and extensive car-testing. In its pharmaceutical program, Avantium plans to broaden its pipeline of novel pharmaceutical crystal forms, with the aim to improve existing drugs.
The remainder of the financing is used to buy out certain shareholders, including MVM, Signet Healthcare Partners and SR One, to align the shareholder base with the company’s strategy. Avantium is pleased with the support of its existing shareholders DFJ Esprit, AlpInvest, EDB Investments, Eastman Chemical and Pfizer, who have decided to continue their support of the company and its growth ambitions.
Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium stated:” We are delighted to secure this financing and to strengthen the shareholder base of Avantium. We are very pleased by the participation of such high-quality investors. The new investors bring very strong expertise and experience in facilitating rapidly growing technology companies in the healthcare and cleantech arena. It marks the next phase for our company and enables us to advance our product development programs. Closing this financing round of EUR 18 million in the current turmoil of the financial markets is a clear sign of the strength of the company and the commitment of our new shareholders.”
Michiel de Haan, General Partner of Aescap Venture and new member of the supervisory board of Avantium, stated: “The Avantium organization incorporates all the necessary elements to become a major Technology company. As Venture Capital investor we are proud to be able to support this company and share our experience in this entrepreneurial process. Thanks to the productive and intense interactions we had with management and the existing shareholders we were able to form the new shareholders consortium which provides the solid basis required to build Avantium into a world class company.”
