• KyDo has secured a seed extension financing from existing investors, including management and founders, to further strengthen its covalent-allosteric oncology platform.
• New compelling preclinical data of KyDo’s lead program further underscore its potential to deliver best-in-class oncology therapeutics.

November 4th, 2026, Dortmund, Germany – KyDo Therapeutics GmbH (KyDo), a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel covalent-allosteric small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of genetically defined cancers, today announced that it has secured a seed extension financing from its existing investors, including members of the management team and the company’s founders.

The financing follows a series of promising new preclinical data supporting the potential of KyDo’s lead program and provides the company with additional runway to advance its development activities and generate further value-defining data.

“We are very pleased to have secured the continued support of our existing investors at this important stage of the company’s development,” said Matthias Stein-Gerlach, CEO of KyDo Therapeutics. “The decision of our investors, including management and our founders, to further support KyDo reflects their confidence in the scientific progress we have achieved and in the potential of our approach. The latest data have further strengthened our conviction that our covalent-allosteric approach may offer a differentiated opportunity to address important limitations of current targeted cancer therapies.”

The new financing will enable KyDo to continue advancing its lead program towards DC nomination, while further characterizing the therapeutic potential and differentiation of its proprietary compounds.

KyDo’s drug discovery platform is based on covalent-allosteric modulation of a clinically validated cancer target. By combining the advantages of covalent binding with allosteric target modulation, the company aims to develop highly potent and selective inhibitors with the potential to overcome resistance mechanisms and address cancer variants for which effective treatment options remain limited.

KyDo will continue to engage with investors and potential strategic partners as the company advances its lead program and builds the data package required for future investments and partnering opportunities.

###

About KyDo Therapeutics GmbH

KyDo Therapeutics GmbH (KyDo) is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company based in Dortmund, Germany, focused on the discovery and development of novel covalent-allosteric small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. KyDo’s proprietary approach aims to address a clinically validated and highly relevant oncology target.

KyDo was jointly founded by Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and scientists from the Rauh Lab at TU Dortmund University. The company successfully completed a €4.45 million seed financing round in 2025, led by i&i Biotech Fund I SCSp together with KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-II) and with participation from VORNvc and TU capital. In 2026, KyDo was awarded the MATWIN prize for the best drug-based innovation project in oncology.

Further information at: https://kydo-tx.com

###

KyDo contact:

KyDo Therapeutics GmbH

Dortmund, Germany

Dr. Matthias Stein-Gerlach

E-Mail: info@kydo-tx.com

less

Heidelberg, Germany, August 25, 2026 – Revier Therapeutics (“Revier” or “the Company”) announced today the closing of a €6 million seed financing and the launch of its operations. The Company has established the first therapeutic approach to selectively target class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases. The financing was led by the KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), VORNvc, and private investors through Revier Invest Heidelberg.

Funding from the round will support development of Revier’s preclinical cardiometabolic pipeline, including its lead program in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and its second program in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) as well as the build out of its operational, scientific and clinical functions.

“Despite significant progress in cardiovascular medicine, millions of patients with HFpEF and ASCVD still face limited targeted treatment options,” said Prof. Eva van Rooij, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Revier Therapeutics. “We believe the next generation of cardiometabolic medicines needs to address the underlying disease-driving biology to deliver impactful and long-term solutions for patients. Our mission is to translate the scientific potential of class IIa HDAC inhibition into a pipeline of novel therapies and rapidly advance our lead programs toward the clinic to create long-term value for both patients and the broader healthcare ecosystem.”

HDACs are enzymes that play a functional role in a variety of severe diseases. Pioneering discoveries, including foundational work at Heidelberg University led by Prof. Johannes Backs, MD, Revier’s scientific founder, defined the specific impact of class IIa HDACs on cardiometabolic diseases.

Prof. Johannes Backs, MD, scientific founder of Revier Therapeutics added: “While first generation HDAC inhibitors broadly targeted multiple HDAC classes resulting in dose-limiting side effects, Revier’s first-in-class small molecules selectively target class IIa HDACs. These compounds specifically inhibit the disease-driving enzymatic activity while preserving the essential functions of class IIa HDACs and canonical class I HDACs. This precise mode of action is designed to be therapeutically effective while maintaining a beneficial safety profile.”

“Revier’s differentiated class IIa HDAC strategy in cardiometabolic disease has the potential to unlock the therapeutic promise of HDAC biology while overcoming limitations associated with earlier class I HDAC approaches,” said Michael Hamacher, PhD, Managing Partner and CFO at KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II. “Combined with an exceptional leadership team and deep scientific expertise, the company has a unique opportunity to deliver disease-modifying medicines and reshape the standard of care by providing durable benefit for patients with HFpEF, ASCVD and related cardiometabolic disorders.”

The Company’s seed financing includes support from a coalition of regional stakeholders and investors led by the business developer Daniel Stern (founder of Revier Invest Heidelberg), underscoring the strategic importance of biotechnology for both the local community and the state of Baden‑Württemberg.

In conjunction with the company launch, Revier announced its leadership team, bringing together renowned experts in cardiovascular science, drug discovery, clinical development and biotechnology.

Key leadership includes:

• Johannes Backs, MD, Scientific Founder – Director of the Institute of Experimental Cardiology at Heidelberg University, Director of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC), and Professor of the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK).
• Eva van Rooij, PhD, Chief Executive Officer – A serial biotechnology entrepreneur and Professor of Molecular Cardiology at University Medical Center Utrecht, with extensive expertise in cardiovascular translational research.
• Mike Nolan, PhD, Chief Technology Officer – A corresponding author of the initial publications describing selective class IIa HDAC inhibitors with 20+ years of industry experience in drug discovery, innovative research platforms, and company creation.
• Matthias Dewenter, MD, Chief Scientific Officer – An expert in translational cardiovascular research and the preclinical development of novel therapeutic approaches for heart failure and cardiometabolic disease.
• Norbert Frey, MD, Chief Medical Officer – Director of the Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Pneumology at Heidelberg University Hospital, translational researcher, and clinical trial leader with decades of expertise advancing new treatments for cardiovascular disease.

Full biographies are available on the company website.

###

About Revier Therapeutics

Revier has established the first therapeutic approach to selectively target Class IIa HDACs to treat cardiometabolic diseases. Our orally available small molecules are designed to inhibit the pathogenic enzymatic activity while preserving healthy biological function and avoiding canonical HDAC inhibition. We are advancing a pipeline of novel disease modulators starting with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) as our initial indications. Our goal is to define a new class of treatments that directly improve cardiometabolic health and provide life-saving, long-term benefits for patients with related diseases.

Find more information at www.revier.bio.

About KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II (KHAN-II)

KHAN-II is an early-stage life sciences venture fund focused on first-in-class therapies for high unmet medical needs, partnering with academic innovators across Europe. Managed by Khanu Fondsverwaltung, a world-class drug discovery team, it leverages unique access to Max Planck and leading European research, and teams up with the Lead Discovery Center GmbH for effective drug development. KHAN-II is backed by the European Investment Fund (InvestEU Equity and ERP-EIF Facility), Akros Pharma, Max Planck Foundation, and Thyssen’sche Handelsgesellschaft.

Further information at info@khanu.de

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 

Germany and Europe need a New Wirtschaftswunder, we are laying the foundations. We are Germany’s most active VC investor, funding deep-tech, life sciences and digital tech companies that secure technological sovereignty and build industrial strength. From the initial idea through to international scaling, we support bold founders as a multi-stage VC platform – seamlessly, reliably and for the long term.

350 active start-ups, 200+ exits and 5 unicorns. Over €10 billion in follow-on funding mobilised. Together with DTCF, we represent more than €3 billion in fund volume – and turn German and European innovations into global tech champions.

More information at HTGF.de or on LinkedIn. 

About VORNvc

VORNvc is a venture capital fund based in Dortmund set up by local savings banks, NRW.Bank and private investors. The experienced management team invests in technology-driven start-ups across multiple financing rounds. In addition to capital, VORNvc provides access to regional networks and SME expertise to drive the region’s economic transformation.

Further information at www.vorn.vc

About Revier Invest Heidelberg

A group of nine private investors from the Rhine-Neckar region, Lünen, and Detroit has recently established Revier Invest Heidelberg to provide growth capital for Revier’s continued expansion. In addition, its management team led by Daniel Stern is supporting the company’s business development activities throughout Baden-Württemberg, Revier’s home state and one of Germany’s leading innovation hubs.

###

Contact: pr@lead-discovery.de

less

CasInvent Pharma, a university spin-off focused on developing anti-cancer compounds, has successfully closed the Pre-Series A funding round, raising a total of € 1.6 million from both existing and new investors. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from Masaryk University in Brno and with the support of i&i Prague, CasInvent Pharma specializes in the development of highly selective inhibitors targeting the casein kinase 1 enzyme family. These enzymes play an important role in several disease-related processes, including the migration of leukaemia cells into lymphoid organs. The small-molecule inhibitors are designed to target individual isoforms of CK1 and thereby selectively eradicate leukemic cells.

“It’s gratifying to have convinced both new and existing partners to support our quest in developing effective treatment options and giving hope to patients suffering from these cancers with a very low survival rate,” says Alexander Scheer, CEO of CasInvent Pharma. He believes these inhibitors have the potential to treat patients with conditions like acute myeloid leukaemia, pancreatic cancer, certain types of breast cancer (TNBC), and other diseases with limited treatment options.

“The company’s ability to attract new investors reaffirms not just the project’s quality, but also the combined expertise of the team at CasInvent Pharma,” says Ivan Vohlmuth, a partner at i&i Bio. “The team has worked really hard over the past 18 months and achieved promising data in the development of their CK1 inhibitor portfolio. We are pleased to continue to support the company,” add Michael Krebs and Peter Nussbaumer from KHAN-I.

Joining the investment round, alongside i&i Bio, KHAN-I and i&i Prague, are two new partners: the Holeček Family Foundation and BIOINVESTIMED a. s. “Supporting this innovative project allows us to participate in the important development of new treatment methods and therapeutic strategies in the field of oncological diseases. At the same time, we are impressed that a Czech entity has embarked on this difficult and financially demanding path. With our engagement, we would like to motivate other investors to fund promising life science companies in the Czech Republic,” says Ondřej Novák, Director of the Holeček Family Foundation.

###

About CasInvent Pharma
CasInvent Pharma is a drug discovery spin-off company established in 2020 by Masaryk University and Bio-Innovation Centre i&i Prague, s.r.o. (Ltd). The mission of the company is to develop new therapeutic options for the treatment of resistant tumours. The CasInvent platform is based on the use of proprietary, best-in-class, highly selective inhibitors of enzymes belonging to the casein kinase 1 (CK1) family that are responsible for the regulation of different cellular mechanisms leading to resistance to targeted therapies.
Further information available at: www.casinvent.com

About i&i Biotech Fund (i&i Bio)
i&i Bio is a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm that invests in innovative European life science companies focused on drug discovery, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. The Fund was created thanks to the cooperation of the biotech incubator i&i Prague and the European Investment Fund (see below). With over € 53 million under management, i&i Bio plans to invest in about 20 early-stage companies. i&i Bio is led by an experienced team of professionals with backgrounds in private equity, healthcare and venture capital, supporting entrepreneurs on their journey to global success. Thanks to close cooperation with the fund’s main sponsor, the biotech academic incubator i&i Prague, i&i Bio is supporting and advancing transformative Central European technology companies.
Further information available at: www.inibio.eu

About the European Investment Fund (EIF)
The Fund is supported by an investment from the EIF, with the support of

• lnnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of the EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing; and
• the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), implemented by the EIF with the financial support of the Participating Member States. The objective of the EGF is to respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring that companies in the Participating Member States have sufficient short-term liquidity available to weather the crisis and can continue their growth and development in the medium to long term.

Further information available at: EIF to invest €25 million to support biomedical tech transfer in Central Europe

About KHAN-I
KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I) is an early-stage life sciences venture fund with € 70 million under management. Their mission is to create value through cooperative drug development partnerships with academic innovators in Europe. KHAN-I focuses on first-in-class therapies for attractive markets with a high unmet medical need. The fund is managed by Khanu Management GmbH, an experienced team of professionals with proven track records in early-stage
drug development and academic spin-offs as well as pharma licensing and partnering. KHAN-I received an investment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) with the support of InnovFin Equity, and with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) under the Investment Plan for Europe.
KHAN-I is also supported by Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (AWS with funds provided by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Austrian Foundation for Research, Technology, and Development), Max Planck Foundation, and Thyssen’sche Handelsgesellschaft mbH. In addition, KHAN-I sustains a preferred partnership with the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft e.V.).
Further information available at: www.khanu.de

About i&i Prague
i&i Prague focuses on the transfer of new technologies into practice. It was established at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and is dedicated to innovations in the field of drug development, diagnostics and medical devices originating from academic institutions. It supports the creation of spin-off companies and the sale of licenses. So far, the company has participated in the creation of or otherwise supported 15 spin-off companies from 5 countries, has an equity stake in 9 of them and has invested over CZK 70 million. Overall, the spin-offs in i&i Prague’s portfolio have raised more than CZK 1.8 billion from other investors. In 2021, i&i Prague established the i&i Bio Investment Fund in cooperation with the European Investment Fund.
Further information available at: www.iniprague.com

Holeček Family Foundation
We support people with knowledge, experience and vision in areas we consider important for the development of our society. We provide support in the form of an open opportunity to receive funding from the Foundation and we leave it up to the beneficiaries to decide how to best use the support we grant. We would like to inspire others with our actions, because we believe that giving back to society brings value to us all.
Our main area of focus is the Czech educational system. Educated people are a prerequisite for the development of any society and there is therefore a close focus on educational projects in the Foundation’s activities. Good health is a prerequisite for a full and active life for all of us. Therefore, the quality of health care, social care and the health care system is also in the Foundation’s focus. Last but not least, the Foundation supports science and research projects as the main drivers of progress and development in any society. The Foundation mainly supports organisations such as universities or hospitals, which already have a strong potential in the fields mentioned above, but their funding does not always allow them to fully develop their potential. In addition to these main areas of focus, the Board of Trustees also looks at specific innovative projects with the potential of bringing new discoveries or practices.
Further information available at: www.holecekfoundation.cz

###

Contact: pr@lead-discovery.de (for KHAN-I)

###

less

Ian Waddell, CEO of Nodus Oncology said: “This is an exciting time for Nodus Oncology; this additional investment will help us to fast-track the development of our current DDR inhibitor programmes and grow our pipeline with exciting new first-in-class assets.”

###

About Nodus Oncology
Nodus Oncology is a biotech company developing first- and best-in-class molecules focused on the DNA damage response (DDR) in patient sub-groups where molecular vulnerabilities exist. Founded by Cumulus Oncology, which contributes capital and oncology discovery as well as development expertise to the creation of new biotech companies, Nodus has received seed investment from both Cumulus Oncology and additional investors.
For more information visit: www.nodusoncology.com.

About KHAN-I
KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I) is an early-stage life sciences venture fund with € 70 million under management. Their mission is to create value through cooperative drug development partnerships with academic innovators in Europe. KHAN-I focuses on first-in-class therapies for attractive markets with a high unmet medical need. The fund is managed by Khanu Management GmbH, an experienced team of professionals with proven track records in early-stage drug development and academic spin-offs as well as pharma licensing and partnering. KHAN-I received an investment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) with the support of InnovFin Equity, and with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) under the Investment Plan for Europe. KHAN-I is also supported by Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (AWS with funds provided by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Austrian Foundation for Research, Technology, and Development), Max Planck Foundation, and Thyssen’sche Handelsgesellschaft mbH. In addition, KHAN-I sustains a preferred partnership with the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft e.V.).
For more information visit: www.khanu.de

About Cumulus Oncology
From securing pre-seed investment in 2020, Cumulus has continued to develop a capitally efficient business model. The company sources novel oncology assets from academic institutes, commercial drug discovery groups and biopharmaceutical companies. The Cumulus scientific and commercial team members identify novel targets for drug discovery programmes which the company funds, supports, and collaborates on. Following rigorous due diligence and market assessment activities, negotiations on deal terms and in-depth feasibility on the investment case, selected assets are spun out into newly created companies. An early focus on molecularly selected patient sub-groups, is a key aspect of the business model. The company incorporates the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platforms into its decision-making process to prioritise targets and assets.
Cumulus contributes both early-stage capital and oncology drug development expertise and manages each spinout company to achieve key development milestones and value inflections. The companies created by Cumulus represent valuable investment opportunities for VCs that focus on the biotech sector. These VCs are important partners for Cumulus when the spinout companies reach key inflection points. The founding team at Cumulus consists of successful life science entrepreneurs, scientists and a range of oncology drug development and pharma sector business professionals.
Further information available at: www.cumulusoncology.com

###

Contact: pr@lead-discovery.de (for KHAN-I)

less