Jülich-based SRTD Biotech secures €31.5 million to develop precision mRNA therapies targeting diseased cells

SRTD Biotech, a Jülich-based BioTech startup focused on developing next-generation precision mRNA therapeutics, has completed an oversubscribed €31.5 million Seed financing round.

The funding was led by Mérieux Equity Partners, with NRW.BANK and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund joining the syndicate as co-leads. Lilly Ventures, HTGF, and the Freiburg-based family Office Anobis Asset also participated in the Seed round.

“We believe SRTD Biotech has the potential to redefine what is possible with mRNA therapeutics. Its highly differentiated technology addresses one of the key challenges facing the field today: achieving precise, selective therapeutic activity while limiting effects on healthy cells. 

“Having worked closely with the company to strengthen its strategy, build its leadership team and establish a scalable platform, we are delighted to lead this financing with our Mérieux Innovation 2 fund (MI2) alongside an exceptional group of investors,” said Kristin Thompson, Director at Mérieux Equity Partners. 

Founded in 2019 in Jülich by Dr. Bernd Hoffmann and Dr Heribert Bohlen, SRTD has developed an approach to cell-specific messenger RNA (mRNA) expression using intracellular RNA disease markers that activate the mRNA expression exclusively within target cells.

The company notes that these selectively expressed RNA (seRNA) constructs enable the controlled expression of therapeutic payloads within diseased cells, while minimising exposure in healthy tissue.

With this novel approach, SRTD plans to create safer, more effective, and differentiated RNA therapies that overcome limitations of non-selective mRNA expression and the constraints of targeting cell-surface proteins. 

SRTD is an integrated RNA therapeutics company combining three technology platforms: proprietary seRNA technology; a novel fusogenic LNP delivery platform to access the liver, lung, brain, and other organs; and a synthetic biology platform with bioinformatics and AI-driven RNA design capabilities. This integrated technology platform provides an end-to-end solution for generating differentiated RNA therapies across a wide range of therapeutic areas and indications.

After the financing round, Matthias Alder was appointed SRTD’s Chief Executive Officer. He has held senior C-suite roles (including CEO, COO and CBO) at publicly traded BioTech companies in the US and Europe. 

“The proceeds will enable SRTD to advance Bernd’s vision of delivering safe, effective, and differentiated RNA therapeutics to patients whose diseases remain inadequately addressed by current therapies,” said Alder.

Along with Matthias Alder, Dr. Heinz Koeppl has joined SRTD’s leadership team as the company’s Chief Technology Officer and the founder of SRTD’s synthetic biology platform. He is also a professor at the Technische Universität Darmstadt and the director of its Centre for Synthetic Biology. 

Together with Dr. Hoffmann, Dr. Koeppl will lead the scientific strategy of SRTD, with a particular focus on RNA marker identification and AI-based construct optimisation to ensure the selective and efficient activation of seRNA constructs.

Most recently, Dr. Jens Hennecke joined the executive leadership team of SRTD as its Chief Business Officer. He is responsible for driving business development and strategy, seeking to leverage the company’s platform through R&D collaborations in therapeutic areas and indications beyond SRTD’s own product pipeline.

“SRTD Biotech shows how cutting-edge research from North Rhine-Westphalia can open up new ways to treat many diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Bringing innovations like these from research into medical practice takes capital. With our investment in SRTD Biotech, we are helping a highly innovative company develop a promising new technology in NRW and scale it internationally from here,” Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte, Member of NRW.BANK’s Managing Board. 

NRW.BANK is participating in SRTD Biotech’s financing round through its NRW.Venture EU Tech&Scale fund. Under its InvestEU partnership, a guarantee agreement with the European Commission enables the Düsseldorf-based bank to invest a total of up to €200 million in additional funding in young scale-ups through the fund.

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