Investment area
Seed Investments
Region
Europe
Date of investment
April 2022
Engimmune Therapeutics is a technology platform and product-based company using cutting-edge technologies to engineer highly potent and specific T cell receptor (TCR) therapies. By applying proprietary platform technologies combining genome editing, functional high-throughput screening, deep sequencing and machine learning, Engimmune addresses key efficacy and safety challenges that currently limit the full potential of TCR-T cell and soluble TCR therapeutics. Spinning out from ETH Zurich and with support from BaseLaunch, the Swiss life sciences incubator, the Company raised a CHF 15.5 million seed series from leading biotech investors, Pureos Bioventures and Novo Holdings.
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Jørgen Søberg Petersen
Senior Partner
Department: Seed Investments
After 9 years in clinical and academic medicine in Denmark and in the United States, Jørgen spent 18 years in R&D Executive positions in Denmark, Switzerland, United States, France and Germany. Jørgen co-founded and built the Nasdaq-listed biotech company Zealand Pharma (ZEAL.CO), held senior leadership at Lundbeck and Novo Nordisk, and as SVP at Merck he established the Immunology franchise. He has industrial R&D experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, oncology and autoimmune disease, and has been involved in a number of major pharmaceutical licensing deals and alliances. Jørgen serves on the board of Acesion Pharma, Engimmune Therapeutics, Breye Therapeutics, Hemab Therapeutics, and Tribune Therapeutics.
Jørgen holds MD, PhD, and DMSc degrees from the University of Copenhagen and an MBA degree from the Technical University of Denmark.
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João Ribas
Principal
Department: Seed Investments
João Ribas joined Seed Investments in 2018, focusing on early-stage investments and venture creation. He currently holds several board positions and has led investments in companies like Asgard Therapeutics, Tribune Therapeutics, and Orbis Medicines. João often combines his investment role with interim operational responsibilities in portfolio companies.
Prior to Novo Holdings, he was a Fellow at M Ventures (corporate VC of Merck KGaA), involved in the entire investment process including deal sourcing, investment selection, and due diligence. Before this, João founded new ventures in the U.S. and Europe, earning several entrepreneurial awards. During his Ph.D., he was part of MIT Hacking Medicine and led a non-profit organization in the U.S.
João earned his Ph.D. from the University of Coimbra, conducting research at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He regularly creates content on biotech innovation, venture creation, and entrepreneurship.