Evolva raises CHF 28M in second round as it prepares for merger with Arpida

Funding

Evolva SA has announced the CHF 28 million (€14.5 million) first closing of its second round, led by current investor Aravis and new investors Auriga Partners, Vinci Capital - Renaissance PME and Wellington Partners. Existing investors Astellas Venture, Dansk Innovation, Novartis Bioventures and Sunstone Capital followed on.

The first closing is part of Evolva’s preparation to merge with fellow Swiss biotech Arpida. However, the company said the funds were committed independently of the proposed merger. Evolva is continuing discussions with other investors and intends to raise further funding in a second closing subject to approval of the merger by Arpida shareholders.

The money will allow the combined company to progress its clinical compounds through Phase II proof-of-concept trials over the next 2-3 years, in particular EV-077 I cardio-renal indications, EV-086, an anti-fungal and EV-075, an antiviral.

Evolva’s genetic chemistry platform is designed to create small molecules which are designed exactly to match their purpose. Based on this technology, Evolva has built a number of discovery and pre-clinical partnerships, which in 2008 generated revenues of about CHF 12 million (€7.9 million). The company also has a pipeline of drug candidates derived from this approach.