vol.46 April 2024

KOBE Biomedical Innovation Cluster newsletter vol.46
- April 2024 -

vol.46 April 2024

Hello,

We exhibited at Medtech Japan, which was held from April 17 to 19, 2024, in Tokyo. Medtech Japan is an exhibition focused on the design and development of medical devices, with over 440 exhibitors offering components and processing technology participating. We had six co-exhibitors showcasing unique technologies from the KOBE Biomedical Innovation Cluster. Additionally, we conducted seminars at our booth, attracting significant interest from attendees who stopped by.

If you missed our past issues of KBIC newsletter, please visit Newsletter Archive.

FBRI Editorial Team

NEWS

United Immunity secures ￥180 million by Debt Financing from Aozora Corporate Investment

United Immunity, a biotech company developing nanogels and lipid nanoparticles based on its Myeloid Targeting PlatformTM, announced today that it has secured ￥180 million (~ $1.2 million) venture debt financing from Aozora Corporate Investment.
Debt financing of deep tech companies including biotech in Japan is historically challenging. However, Aozora Corporate Investment decided to invest in United Immunity after evaluating the company’s innovative drug delivery platform and its lead drug candidate UI-102 for the treatment of immune resistant cold solid tumor.

IDDK Co., Ltd., a Space Bio-Experiment Service Provider, Raises USD 0.5M in Pre-Series A Second Close

IDDK Co., Ltd. (President: Soichiro Ueno, Head Office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "IDDK"), which provides space bio-experiment services utilizing its proprietary semiconductor sensor-based microscopic observation technology, MID, has raised USD 0.5M in pre-series A second close by March 15, 2024, funded by Leave a Nest Capital Co., Ltd., a group company of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. and Pasona Group Inc. The total amount raised under the pre-series A was USD 2M (including the issuance of J-KISS type stock acquisition rights).

Synplogen Signs Business Alliance Agreement with FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical

Synplogen Co., Ltd. , a biotech startup company spun out from Kobe University, and FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd announced their strategic business alliance on CDMO services for mRNA therapeutics.
Synplogen, a pioneering synthetic biology startup company from Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, was established in February 2017. Leveraging its proprietary DNA synthesis technology, OGAB™ method and Combinatorial-OGAB™ method, Synplogen is capable of synthesizing ultralong and complex DNA and constructing DNA libraries with various combinations. Under this strategic alliance, Synplogen will provide mRNA sequence design and plasmid DNA synthesis services.