Irish fund Fountain Healthcare leads €40m Dualyx fundraise

Irish venture capitalist Fountain Healthcare Partners has led a €40 million fundraising for Belgian biotech Dualyx, which is developing treatments for immune system ailments.

Ghent, Belgium-based Dualys says that it has seen promising results from a programme dubbed DT-001, which is focused on treating autoimmune diseases.

These are conditions where the human natural defence system attacks the body’s own healthy cells as it cannot differentiate them from foreign cells.

Highlighting potential

Dublin-headquartered Fountain Healthcare Partners led a €40 million fundraising round for Dualyx, alongside Forbion and Andera Partners, with the support of the biotech company’s existing backers.

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Dualyx chief executive Wouter Verhoeven said attracting the expertise and support of top-tier investors highlighted the potential of the company’s work.

He added that he was confident that the support of its new board would allow Dualyx to progress its work and “ultimately our goal of addressing hard-to-treat autoimmune diseases”.

Fountain Healthcare partner Ena Prosser noted that DT-001′s potential to treat a broad range of autoimmune diseases made it a compelling investment for the firm.

“Co-investing in Dualyx, alongside other top-tier investors like Forbion and Andera Partners, enables Fountain to access other international biotech investors and bring capital into our portfolio companies in Ireland and elsewhere,” she added.

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Fountain announced the news on the eve of the 23rd Bioequity Europe conference, a key event for investors and, biotech and life science companies, that began in Dublin on Monday.

Dualyx has appointed experienced biotech executive Bernard Coulie of Pliant Therapeutics as chairman, who said he looked forward to working with the company’s managers.

Current investors

Chief science officer Luc Van Rompaey founded Dualyx two years ago in collaboration with Ghent, Wurzburg and KU Leuven universities. The company has already raised €7 million from current investors, led by V Bio Ventures.

Fountain Healthcare has offices in Dublin and New York and manages €301 million worth of investments in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices.

Forbion manages €3 billion worth of investments from offices in the Netherlands and Germany. Paris-based Andera Partners has €3.7 billion under management. Both specialise in healthcare and pharmaceuticals.