Upstart antibody engineering outfit F-star has garnered €6 million in its first round of venture financing. The Vienna-based biotech opened a year ago and raised €1.5 million in seed funding. Aescap Venture and Atlas Venture contributed to the second round. F-star plans to use the money to develop its Modular Antibody Technology. According to its release, the company has shown that "its proprietary format Fcab, an antigen binding Fc fragment, can display antibody functionality such as effector functions and long half-life despite its much smaller size compared to full antibodies." F-star plans to generate its own lead candidates while working with partners on others.
- see this release on the latest round