Novo Holdings joins $135 million Series B financing for Adcendo

Novo Holdings today announced its participation in an oversubscribed $135 million Series B financing for Adcendo, a biotech company focused on the development of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancers with a high unmet medical need.

Proceeds from the fundraise will be used to advance, broaden, and accelerate the development of the Company’s first-in-class ADC pipeline, including the ADCE-T02 (Tissue Factor ADC), ADCE-D01 (uPARAP ADC), ADCE-B05 and A0401 programs.

The financing round was led by TCGX, with participation from new investors TPG Life Sciences Innovations, Orbimed Advisors, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), and Logos Capital, as well as all existing investors, including RA Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Pontifax Venture Capital, Dawn Biopharma, a platform controlled by KKR, HealthCap, Gilde Healthcare and Ysios Capital.

“We are thrilled with a financing round of this magnitude and the support shown from such a strong group of investors as we continue to advance our pipeline of breakthrough ADCs for the treatment of underserved cancers,” said Michael Pehl, CEO, Adcendo. “The excitement in the ADC space paired with our team’s experience and passion for the underlying science motivates us to continue pushing our programs forward into the clinic. We look forward to achieving key milestones across our pipeline with the support of this fundraising.”

Jeroen Bakker, Partner, Seed Investments, Novo Holdings, said:
“Novo Holdings has been a strong supporter of Adcendo since its early stages, from providing pre-seed grants to the academic founders to leading the Company’s Series A. We are pleased to see Adcendo achieve this important milestone with its Series B round and look forward to seeing its continued progress in developing innovative antibody-drug conjugates.”

Cariad Chester, Managing Partner, TCGX, said: “ADCs have transformed the clinical landscape and standard of care in the treatment of solid tumours. Continued progress for hard-to-treat cancers will require innovative approaches and I’m confident Adcendo will be a leader in the next era of ADC drug development. With this financing, Adcendo can rapidly advance a pipeline of exciting, differentiated ADC candidates. These programs have the potential to significantly change the treatment paradigm in multiple cancers and serve patients in need of better therapies.”

Following the financing, Adcendo’s Board of Directors will consist of John Haurum (Chairman), Cariad Chester (Managing Partner of TCGX), Nandita Shangari (Managing Director at RA Capital), Jeroen Bakker (Partner at Novo Holdings), Carolyn Ng (Business Unit Partner at TPG Life Sciences Innovations), Ohad Hammer (Partner at Pontifax Venture Capital), Iyona Rajkomar (Managing Partner of DawnBio, a platform controlled by KKR) and Michael Pehl (CEO of Adcendo). Roy Amariglio, Principal at Orbimed Advisors, will serve as a board observer.

About Adcendo ApS
Adcendo ApS is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing breakthrough antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, for the treatment of underserved cancers. In 2024, the company completed a Series B financing round through an international syndicate of leading life science and biotech investors, raising $135 million to advance, broaden, and accelerate the development of its first-in-class ADC pipeline. For further information, please visit www.adcendo.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Novo Holdings A/S
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S (Novozymes A/S) and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seed, Venture, Growth, Asia, Planetary Health and Principal Investments teams, Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development. As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 149 billion. www.novoholdings.dk

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation’s mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.