This investment will allow Inoviem to put its two proprietary drug discovery technologies into production and enter the European market over the next 12 months.
The company expects to increase its staffing by 50% in 2015 to support its European expansion plans. Earlier this year Inoviem opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany. After 18 months in business, the company has signed five agreements with pharma and biotechnology companies.
“Cap Innov’Est’s support will help us to make strides with our current projects and in business development,” said founder and chairman Pierre Eftekhari.
Cap Innov’Est is a seed capital fund for the three French regions of Alsace, Burgundy and Franche-Comté, managed by Alsace Capital in partnership with Invest PME (a subsidiary of private equity group Siparex).
“We decided to support Inoviem Scientific on the basis of its convincing technological approach and the high quality of the initial results obtained,” said Jean-François Rax, director of investment at Cap Innov’Est.