LNC Closes Successfully Its Second Fundraising: €3.5 Million to Accelerate Its R&D and Market Access
LNC designs and develops Medical Nutrition products, tailored to meet the specific needs of patients suffering from metabolic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease).
"Coming from the pharmaceutical industry, LNC managers are convinced that patients with these chronic condition benefit from a comprehensive health care offering. This offer comprises the assembly of drugs, disease-specific nutrition products and services. What are the objectives of such a global health care offer? The improvement of the medico-economic efficiency that benefits both patients/customers and payers (public and private health insurance...). LNC’s team excels at the design and development of these patented medical nutrition products, with efficacy proven by international, multicenter, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Within 2 years, LNC plans to offer its products to the pharmaceutical industry for acquisition or licensing", comments Claude Vincent, co-founder and President of LNC.
Four patented and proprietary products are currently in clinical development. These products target two strategic markets chosen by LNC, namely: reducing cardiometabolic risk in patients with pre-diabetes syndrome (insulin resistance, adipocyte dysfunction and metabolic disorders leading to cardiovascular disease) and perioperative nutrition for obese patients undergoing Bariatric surgery (insertion of a gastric band, sleeve, etc.).
LNC, supported by its partners, will also consider investment opportunities in companies or product portfolios, aimed at strengthening its market position.
In 2010, LNC carried out an initial fundraising of € 1.5 million to initiate clinical studies on its products. Encouraging results convinced LNC to seek further financing to fund a second set of clinical studies. "Seventure Partners is the European leader in investments in healthcare-nutrition. We are delighted to welcome them as shareholders and look forward to benefiting from their deep knowledge of the pharma-nutrition markets and their vision of Nutrition for Health. Isabelle de Crémoux, Robert Schier and their team bring wide experience regarding strategic development, scale up of operations and business development within the pharmaceutical industry." added Claude Vincent.
"With this fundraising, we can complete in the next 24 months the clinical development of our products within our two strategic markets. Our aim is to work with the world's best teams in each area. Clinical studies will be conducted both in Europe and North America "
This fundraising will also allow LNC to consolidate its position in Aquitaine. "Be it through equity investment via Aqui- Invest or through various other mechanisms of support and funding, our regional contacts, Oséo Aquitaine, Regional Council of Aquitaine and the Bordeaux-Unitec Technopole have provided critical, fast and efficient support to LNC. We would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the Competitiveness & Financing Department of the new agency Aquitaine Développement Innovation, whose expertise and responsiveness helped finalize the second round in less than 6 months including facilitating the presence of IRDI and GSO Capital" said Jean-Luc Treillou, Deputy Managing Director of LNC.
About LNC
Based in Bordeaux, LNC is a medical nutrition company specializing in the major metabolic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline).
- their business: to design and development of targeted medical nutrition products for the reduction of cardiometabolic risk factors and improvement of perioperative nutrition for bariatric surgery.
- their plan: to conduct large scale clinical studies and then offer its products to pharmaceutical and industrial (licensing or acquisition) partners.
- their ambition: to become the reference laboratory in these markets through key strategic partnerships.
Contact: Jean-Luc Treillou, Deputy Managing Director
jl.treillou@l-n-c.fr
phone: +33 6 36 07 11 50
www.l-n-c.fr
About Seventure Partners
Being one of the leading venture capital firms in Europe, Seventure manages over €500m and has been investing since 1997 in innovative businesses with high growth potential in Information & Communication Technologies and in Life Sciences.
The Life Sciences team invests across Europe. Its 4 preferred sectors are Biotech & Pharmaceuticals, Medtech, Industrial Biotech & Cleantech, and Lifestyle Healthcare & Nutrition. A typical initial investment ranges from €500k to €10m per round; with up to €20m invested in total per company; and from early to later stage.
Seventure is a subsidiary of Natixis.
Contact: Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Director of Life Sciences Dept.
isabelle.decremoux@seventure.fr
phone: +33 6 77 05 49 92
www.seventure.fr
About IRDI
Created 30 years ago, IRDI is one of the leading French regional capital investment firm with over € 100 million under management. Its ever-green structure confers to IRDI its longevity over time. It counts among its shareholders leading players including the CDC, the Midi-Pyrenees and Aquitaine Regions, the Caisse d'Epargne Midi-Pyrenees, the Banque Populaire Group, LCL - Crédit Agricole, EDF, Total Development Regional and Groupe Ionis.
Its strategy is to invest and support the development of industrial growth and innovative companies, located in the southwest of France. Its operations range from the creation of start-ups to the transmission of SMEs for equity unit of up to € 5 million. IRDI invests in various industries, with a special focus on aerospace/defense, food and health.
Contact: Jean-Michel Petit, Partner
jean.michel.petit@irdi.fr
phone: +33 5-81-317-320
About GSO Capital
Member of the Crédit Agricole Group, Grand Sud-Ouest Capital (GSOC) supports SMEs based in the southwestern part of France in their development or transmission projects. A minority investor, GSOC invests € 500K to € 3 million per transaction.
About Aquitaine Développement Innovation
The new regional agency was created on 19th March 2012 by the merging of “INNOVALIS Aquitaine” and the “Agence Aquitaine de Développement Industriel”.
Its staff of 56 experienced professionals has the following assignments:
- anticipate economic changes,
- increase competitiveness and innovation potential of SMEs,
- support the emergence of new regional networks,
- lead and coordinate clusters,
- foster the attractiveness of Aquitaine region for corporate relocations.
Its Competitiveness & Financing department helps high-tech innovative SMEs to face their early stage private fundraising needs with the support of business angels, business angels’ networks, holdings, regional or national investment funds.
The team has contributed to lead a lot of "early stage" deals in most high-tech sectors. Examples of companies : Allgoob, Cordouan Technologies, Exoès, Snapp', Fermentalg, ClicRDV, Primobox....
Contact : Arnaud de Malet, Head of Competitiveness & Financing
a.demalet@aquitaine-dev-innov.com
phone : +33 (0)5 56 15 11 96
http://www.aquitaine-dev-innov.com/
About Aqui-Invest
Aqui-Invest is a regional co-investment fund 100% owned by the Aquitaine Region and created in 2010 with support from the FEDER (Fonds Européen de Développement Economique Régional). Its mission is to take part and follow investment in companies from the Aquitaine region in partnership with selected Venture Capital funds in order to double their amount of interventions (limited to 300.00 €).
The objective is to achieve around 10 investments in the Aquitaine region per year.
Contact : Bernard Estienne, AQUITI Gestion Director
bernard.estienne@aquiti.fr
Advisors for the operation
SEVENTURE PARTNERS: Cabinet Lamy et Associés - Eric BAROIN and Misha RAZNATOVICH
LNC: Cabinet LEXCO (Bordeaux) - Jerome DUFOUR and Martin REGEASSE
KPMG - Christophe LAJARRIGE,
Chartered Accountant - Sandrine SAVY