Scientists got 8 million with this pitch deck

PL Bioscience wants to develop effective cell therapies to improve the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and wound healing methods. The aim is to protect animal welfare. PL Bioscience has received capital to further advance the sustainable production of cell culture media. The Aachen-based company has raised 7.8 million euros as part of a Series A financing round.

The round was led by a consortium of three venture capitalists and a biopharmaceutical company: Avant Bio (New York), Le Pure Biotech (Shanghai), B Value AG (Dortmund) and Better Ventures (Munich). Existing investors Brightlands Venture Partners from the Netherlands and Techvision Fonds from Aachen also participated in the Series A.

Sustainable production of cell culture media

The blood for the cell culture preparations does not come from animals, but is obtained from donated human blood that is no longer suitable for transfusions. This is called human platelet lysate (HPL). Using technology for which PL Bioscience holds a patent, cell culture media is produced from HPL. These preparations are used in stem cell therapies.

Customers include companies from the life sciences sector, biomedicine, research institutions and university hospitals. These include the medical universities in Vienna and Tübingen and the Diabetes Research Institute and Cell Transplantation Center at the University of Miami. PL Bioscience wants to use the fresh capital to drive commercial expansion. To do this, the Aachen-based company must expand its production capacity.

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The global market for stem cell therapy is forecast to grow from just under 14 billion euros in 2024 to 58 billion euros in 2031. Growth is expected to be driven primarily by North America, but the Asian market also offers great potential, the report states.

Spin-off from RWTH Aachen

Behind PL Bioscience are molecular biologist Hatim Hemeda (CEO) and business economist Christian Wilkes (CFO), who spun off the company from RWTH Aachen in 2015. According to the German Startup Monitor 2023, the Aachen University tops the list of startup universities in Germany, even ahead of the Technical University of Munich.

Here you can see the pitch deck with which the two founders raised millions for their Series A financing. You can find more exciting company presentations on our pitch deck topic page, and you can get video feedback from experts for your own slides here.

PL BioScience GmbH