Avenue Biosciences Raises €4.8 Million to Revolutionize Protein Manufacturing for Drugmakers

Avenue Biosciences, a protein engineering technology company based in Helsinki, has recently announced a Seed extension of €4.8 million ($5.7 million) to further develop their high-throughput protein engineering technology. This technology aims to accelerate the discovery of protein-based therapies and tools for the BioTech industry. The funding round was co-led by Balnord and Tesi, with support from existing investors Voima Ventures, Inventure, University of Helsinki, and Dimerent. This brings their total funding raised to date since 2024 to €7.4 million ($8.7 million), following a previous raise of €2.3 million.

CEO and co-founder of Avenue Biosciences, Tero-Pekka Alastalo, highlighted the importance of their technology in improving the manufacturability of complex proteins, such as AI-designed proteins or multispecifics. The Seed extension received by Avenue Biosciences is part of a larger trend of funding flowing into protein engineering, programmable biology, and other BioTech platforms across Europe.

In addition to Avenue Biosciences, other companies in the European BioTech sector have also received significant funding. PFx Biotech in Portugal raised €2.5 million for developing allergy-free human milk proteins, Laigo Bio in the Netherlands secured €11.5 million for its SureTAC targeted protein-degradation platform, TRIMTECH Therapeutics in the UK raised €28.6 million for developing protein-degradation therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, and Latent Labs in London closed €47.9 million to scale its AI-powered programmable biology platform. Collectively, these rounds represent approximately €90 million in disclosed funding for European BioTech platform companies.

Avenue Biosciences’ Seed extension reflects ongoing investor interest in foundational technologies that enhance protein discovery and manufacturability. COO, co-founder, and Helsinki laboratory site lead Katja Rosti emphasized the increasing complexity of protein-based biologics under development for conditions like cancer, rare diseases, and immunology. This complexity poses challenges in terms of protein structure and manufacturing costs, which Avenue Biosciences aims to address through its technology.

Founded in 2023, Avenue Biosciences is focused on accelerating the discovery and development of protein biologics. The company’s protein engineering platform combines organic biology and machine learning to improve protein production. By utilizing a library of thousands of signal peptides, Avenue Biosciences can measure the efficiency of protein biogenesis in the secretory pathway, which plays a crucial role in folding, modifying, and secreting therapeutic proteins.

The company’s technology has the potential to significantly lower the costs of biologics and transform therapeutic protein manufacturing through the use of AI. By combining wet lab experiments with machine learning, Avenue Biosciences aims to develop high-quality prediction tools for therapeutic developers, addressing key bottlenecks in the industry. Investor Gabriele Poteliunaite from Balnord praised the team’s execution and strong industry relationships.

Signal peptides, intrinsic components of proteins, have a significant impact on protein production and quality at the cellular level. Avenue Biosciences’ approach involves using these signal peptides to enhance protein production while maintaining the essential characteristics of the target protein. This approach is valuable not only in therapeutic development but also in manufacturing biosimilars, lower-priced versions of existing therapies.

Investment Director Miia Kaye from Tesi highlighted the growth opportunities for Avenue Biosciences’ technology, which is rooted in Finnish scientific discovery. The company’s technology has the potential to become a gold standard in the field of protein engineering. Overall, Avenue Biosciences’ innovative approach to protein discovery and manufacturability is poised to make a significant impact in the BioTech industry.