Milan-based biotech Aptadir Therapeutics raises $45M seed round

What happened

A Milan-based biotech company developing novel treatments for difficult to treat genetic conditions has raised a $45m seed round (an early stage of company funding), it said today. The seed round investment in Aptadir Therapeutics is one of the largest by an Italian health startup and Aptadir says it’s one of Europe’s largest early-stage funding rounds.

The round was led by 4BIO Capital, the London-based VC investing in life sciences, with participation from Aptadir's pre-seed investor, Extend, Italy’s national technology transfer hub for biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Other investors include CDP Venture Capital, XGEN Venture and CE-Ventures. The startup, which is focused on the preclinical stage, is developing a novel class of RNA inhibitors, which are used to silence defective genes, to treat genetic conditions and underserved cancers.