Frankfurt am Main / Singapore – 28. October 2009 – Nanostart has increased its stake in Curiox Biosystems Pte Ltd, Singapore, to almost 19% by a follow-up investment through its Nanostart Singapore Early Stage Venture Fund I.
The investment is part of a second financing round, in which several experienced life science investors as well as a corporate investor joined as new investors in Curiox. Nanostart remains the lead investor. This is also the first investment of Nanostart’s recently closed Nanostart Singapore Early Stage Venture Fund.
The funds shall help Curiox to tackle the therapeutics screening market for pharmaceutical and biotech firms. Having successfully established its semi-automated product, the DropArray™ LT, with numerous customers from universities and government research laboratories in Singapore, the company now aims to introduce this new product line to the market and also to expand internationally, in particular to the USA and Europe. The DropArray™ HT targets primarily big pharma and biotech companies and major research labs which require a significant level of automation, whereas the DropArray™ LT serves as a semi-automated solution for smaller research labs.
Referring to the expansion plans, Namyong Kim, CEO of Curiox, says: „We are happy about the continuing support from our existing investors and the expanded investors base. We will use the funds to expand our product line and gain the first customers overseas. We expect to close deals with major customers very soon.“
Andreas Kröll, Managing Director of Nanostart Asia and Nanostart’s representative on Curiox’ board, comments: „The strong investor interest underlines the huge potential of the company’s products. After the financing, we will hold almost 19% in the company, which represents a great asset for Nanostart AG and its shareholders“
About Curiox Biosystems Pte Ltd:
Curiox Biosystems has a vision to accelerate the progress of life sciences and drug discovery through better miniaturization. Curiox is a bioinstrumentation company enabling the miniaturization of heterogeneous bioassay for researchers working in life sciences, drug discovery, and diagnostics. Curiox’s patented miniaturization platform, DropArray™, provides up to 1,000 times savings in sample and reagent consumption, and up to 10 times reduction in assay time. The company is located in Singapore, the biomedical hub of Southeast Asia. The company is a spin-off from Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) backed primarily by Nanostart and Exploit Technologies, the commercializing arm of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). For further information, please visit www.curiox.com.
About Nanostart: Nanostart AG is the world’s leading nanotechnology investment company. The Frankfurt-based company provides venture capital financing for nanotechnology companies in various growth phases. It also provides the benefits of its experience and expertise to developers of financial instruments and to investors in the nanotechnology sector. For further information about the company, please visit www.nanostart.de.
Disclaimer: This notice constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offers to purchase or subscribe to securities. There will be no public offering of securities of Nanostart AG in conjunction with the existing listing of its shares in the “Entry Standard” segment of the regulated unofficial market (Freiverkehr) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This notice does not constitute a securities prospectus. Neither this notice nor the information contained within is intended for direct or indirect distribution within the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan.
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