Kimialys secures nearly one million euros for its industrial and business development

Kimialys, a privately held French startup specialised in surface chemical treatment for innovative in vitro diagnostic assays and biosensing applications, today announced that it has successfully closed a funding round, raising nearly one million euros.

The funding will be used to scale-up Kimialys’ production and functionalisation (chemical coating) capacity for gold nanoparticles, which are a key component in the manufacturing of rapid diagnostic tests, also known as test strips.

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“Our patented technology has been validated at lab-scale on concrete use cases, and we are now ready to set up our industrial-grade production unit, with the appropriate quality control level, to support our customers in the long term (rapid test and in vitro analysis tool developers, pharmaceutical laboratories). Our recent ISO 9001:2015 certification attests to our industrial ambitions and commitment to delivering high-quality solutions”,
said Cyril GILBERT, co-founder and President, Kimialys.

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Kimialys is also pursuing the co-development of three innovative projects alongside top-notch scientific and clinical partners, with more than 1.3 million euros in funding provided by Bpifrance (French Public Investment Bank).

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“These projects highlight the unique benefits of our surface chemistry K-One for innovative clinical applications with genuine needs: early detection of neutralising antibodies for patients treated with immunotherapy, rapid and low-cost molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases, and on-line quality control of cell therapy production.
These projects also all demonstrate the versatility of our innovation and the capacity of our team, comprising 8 people of whom 7 PhDs, to brilliantly apply our know-how on diverse use cases”, added Claude NOGUES, co-founder and Scientific Director, Kimialys.

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Another part of the funding will be used to structure the sales & marketing activities of the company in order to gain exposure to the global in vitro diagnostic (IVD) and bioanalysis markets, for instance by attending renowned and dedicated conferences and events in Europe, North America and Middle East.

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“We are fortunate to have Nicolas HEUREUX on our team as Business Development Manager. He joined us earlier this year and brings valuable experience and connections in the IVD industry, which will help us successfully roll out our high-value technology to these companies,” said Cyril GILBERT.

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This financing round was led by Financière Vecteur, managed by the asset management company GO Capital, with the significant participation of Business Angels, including French-based networks BADGE and Angels Santé. The investors were advised on the transaction by legal counsel Fidal and on the due diligence side by ORCOM.

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“We are delighted to support Kimialys in achieving their development goals, in France and abroad. The team has already proven the added value of the technology thanks to successful proof-of-concept studies and contracts with major industrial players in the field”, concluded Tristan GARDE, investment associate, Financière Vecteur & GO Capital.

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About Kimialys

Kimialys is a startup company aiming to enable the development of innovative, reliable and sensitive diagnostic tests and in vitro analysis tools. The company’s patented technology is the fruit of more than 10 years of research work led by Dr Claude NOGUES, previously team leader at Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay and CNRS, today co-founder and Scientific Director at Kimialys.

After benefiting from a maturation phase within the SATT Paris-Saclay technology transfer office between 2017 and 2019, receiving an investment of 550 000 euros during this period, the project was awarded with the 2019 i-LAB prize, a national competition organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Founded in 2020 in Paris-Saclay, France, and supported by the Agoranov incubator and WILCO accelerator, Kimialys was awarded two additional prizes (from national competitions i-NOV and PIA4 New Biotherapies and Bioproduction Tools), securing more than 1.3 million euros in non-dilutive financing overall.

In 2022, Kimialys won the Health-Biotech Pitch Contest at the Paris-Saclay Spring event, and made the list of the top 5 finalists of the Emerging Technology Competition held by the Royal Society of Chemistry (London).

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About Financière Vecteur

FINANCIERE VECTEUR SCR is an early-stage investment firm, a subsidiary of BANQUE POPULAIRE VAL DE France (BPVF) managed by GO CAPITAL, co-investing in ambitious projects in the local area of BVPF, in seed-funding stage as well as in growth and buyout capital.

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About BADGE

Founded in 2004, the Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles Association is one of the first networks of Business Angels in France. Their goal is to support and finance the creation and development of innovative companies with strong growth potential. Since its inception, BADGE has financed 214 companies by investing more than 47 million euros in cumulated fundings, which were further leveraged overall with 120 million euros in equity from other sources of financing. In 2022, BADGE members participated in 24 fundraisings, representing 3.8 million euros.

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About Angels Santé

First Health-focused European network of Business Angels, Angels Santé is dedicated to seed funding the healthcare space. Not only active in France, Angels Santé is also a key player in Europe as a member of Business Angels Europe (BAE) and European Business Angels Network (EBAN), and as the operator of the EIT Health Investor Network program.