MediSapiens Gets $ 1 Million for World's First Personalized Cancer Medicine Software
By Medisapiens Ltd., PRNEMonday, May 31, 2010
HELSINKI, June 1, 2010 - MediSapiens, world's first software company for personalized
cancer medicine in oncology clinics and drug development, completed
$ 1 million (EUR 0.8 million) seed round investment from Veraventure, ETFIII
advised by Eqvitec Partners, VTT Ventures and Lifeline Ventures.
MediSapiens is based on scientific research at the VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland and its collaborators. MediSapiens hosts
world's largest unified gene expression database of human tissues and
diseases. This enables scientists to understand the role of human genes in
health and disease - to be applied in helping oncologists in choosing optimal
treatments and biopharmaceutical companies in developing next generation
personalized medicines.
"The latest research - such as The Cancer Genome Atlas funded
by the NIH - demonstrates that every patient's cancer is a complex, unique
combination of genetic mutations and abnormally expressed genes. The
MediSapiens software gives personalized and clinically applicable insight
into each patient's cancer," says Tommi Pisto, CEO and Co-founder of
MediSapiens.
"Making use of the data produced by the global scientific
community provides a new and significant opportunity to understand cancer.
Oncologists can benefit when these reference datasets are used to interpret
molecular profiling results for individual patients," comments Professor Olli
Kallioniemi, MediSapiens board member and director of the Institute for
Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM).
About MediSapiens
MediSapiens, the world's first software company for
personalized cancer medicine in oncology clinics and new drug development,
hosts world's largest unified gene expression database. With the data online,
oncologists have access to evaluate individual patient's genetic signature
for the optimized treatment strategy, and scientists understand how genes
work across all human tissues. Company's bioinformatics science and
peer-reviewed data is based on the research since 2005 by VTT Technical
Research Centre of Finland and its collaborators. Visit
www.medisapiens.fi for more information.
About Veraventure
Veraventure, with assets under management exceeding EUR 100m,
is one of the largest early stage funds in Nordic countries. Veraventure
makes direct investments in early-stage research, development and innovation
intensive enterprises. It also acts as the hub for early-stage venture
capital and angel investors as it manages national business angel network
with over 100 registered angel investors. Visit
www.veraventure.fi/company for more information.
About Eqvitec
Eqvitec Partners is one of the largest technology oriented
private equity firms in Northern Europe. The company was founded in 1997 and
employs 10 investment professionals in Helsinki and Stockholm. Eqvitec
Partners currently advises three funds with a total capital base of over EUR
300 million. The funds invest in technology companies in the expansion stage.
At the moment the funds have investments in 30 companies and have carried out
over 40 exits. Visit www.eqvitec.com for more information.
About VTT Ventures
VTT Ventures Ltd is a development company that generates and
develops spin-offs based on VTT's technology. We work closely with more than
2,500 VTT researchers and scientists to find the most valuable new
technologies to commercialize. Through us, entrepreneurs have access to
innovative ideas and know-how of more than 300 patent families. This is the
bases for the dealflow that enables us to create growth companies with global
potential. Visit www.vttventures.fi for more information.
About Lifeline Ventures
Lifeline Ventures, a venture accelerator and early-stage
investment fund, co-creates growth companies in health and technology. Being
entrepreneurs, we are active team members for an early-stage venture for
12-24 months. Visit www.lifelineventures.com for more information.
Media contact: Timo Ahopelto VP Strategy MediSapiens Email: timo.ahopelto@medisapiens.fi Telephone: +358-400-569-628
Media contact: Timo Ahopelto, VP Strategy, MediSapiens, Email: timo.ahopelto at medisapiens.fi, Telephone: +358-400-569-628
Tags: finland, Helsinki, June 1, Medisapiens Ltd.