The success of mRNA as vaccination technology has sparked wide-interest and provides commercial opportunities.
RIBOPRO is positioning itself as a key player in the field with an unique combination of licensable technologies and manufacturing capabilities.
Milestones
Early 2020: RIBOPRO was founded by scientists,
each with 10+ yrs of experience in mRNA and/or delivery.
April 2020: first patent (on mRNA de-immunization methods) was filed.
Febr. 2021: Seed financing of €1.3mio.
Oct. 2021: Wellcome Leap R3-grant of €3.5mio to develop a
next-generation manufacturing device.
Febr. 2022: 10x growth on virtually all parameters in 1 year.
May 2022: 20th employee hired
June 2022: Growth financing of €1mio (CLA) in preparation of a Series A.
Q1 2023: Anticipated opening of GMP-manufacturing site in Maastricht.
Performance (non-conf)
RIBOPRO is rapidly growing through a combination of increasing sales (volume & order size), and well-controlled costs. We achieve cost control by backward integration of critical and costly raw materials (e.g. enzymes & custom lipids), automated manufacturing, and the use of smart software to minimize administrative burden. Through in-house R&D, we continuously find new and more efficient ways to approach manufacturing & other business processes.
Even more importantly, we are rapidly building a patent portfolio around key ingredients required for more advanced uses of mRNA, creating increasing licensing opportunities.
Revenues: 10x (’20-’21), 3x (’21-’22) from R&D-grade mfg. services
Runway: until break-even mid ’23 => Looking for funding to accelerate
Supply: Increasingly self-sufficient by in-house mfg. of raw materials
Gross margin: >50% => >90%
Growing pipeline for GMP-manufacturing (5-10x of R&D revenues)
Licensing opportunities: >€10B expected from growing patent portfolio
FTE: approaching 30
Location
HQ: Pivot Park, Oss, the Netherlands
– Production facility R&D-grade
– Research laboratories (incl. BSL-2)
– Offices
R3: Oss, the Netherlands
– Engineering facility
– Offices
GMP: Medace, Maastricht, the Netherlands
– Production facility GMP-grade
– Class A & C cleanrooms (ISO14644)
– QC-laboratory
– Microbiology lab (BSL-1)
Technologies
mRNA technologies
– De-immunization (sequence optimisation) – patented
– 5’UTR & 3’UTR libraries – trade-secret => patent
– Undisclosed technologies in development
Delivery technologies
– Novel class of ionizable lipids – patented
– Novel core lipid system => patent
– Undisclosed technologies in development
Manufacturing technologies
– Co-transcriptional capping method => patent
– Novel RNAP variants with low dsRNA => patent
– Novel DNA amplification method => patent
– Undisclosed technologies in development
Products
RIBOPRO is an innovative, premium CDMO and technology provider.
We provide the following products & services:
Core service:
1. mRNA design
2. de novo DNA template synthesis (via partners)
3. DNA cloning & amplification (in-house)
4. In vitro transcription (IVT), purification and modification of mRNA
5. LNP-formulation
6. Shipping (via partners)
Additional services:
1. Consultancy on experimental design/data
2. Consultancy on clinical trial design (coming in 2023)
3. CRO-services of specified assays (in-house)
4. GMP-manufacturing (coming in Q1 2023)
5. Out-licensing of technologies
6. Commercial-manufacturing (coming in 2024)
The additional services are provided to help customers reach the market/patient, thereby activating RIBOPRO’s royalties model.
Use-of-funds
RIBOPRO aims to raise €16.5mio for the following uses:
1. Increasing our speed (USP)
by shortening the turn-around of the de novo DNA step
2. Capturing market share
a. Sample distribution (seeing is believing)
b. Increased marketing
c. Secondary facilities
3. Maintain/expand technology leadership
a. mRNA tech R&D
b. LNP tech R&D
c. Special mRNA products
d. Research collaborations
e. IP-acquisitions
4. Data collection
a. Pre-clinical (GLP) data package on proprietary products5. Micellaneous
a. Develop the Byte-to-nucleotide(TM) platform
b. Buffer
Current investors
RIBOPRO is happy to have the following syndicate of investors for financial, strategic and practical support:
1. Stichting Vlasroot (business angel group)
2. BOM (regional investment fund)
3. Rockstart Health (VC)
4. Private investors
RIBOPRO uniquely operates at the cross-section of the contract drug manufacturing (CDMO) and technology provider fields. Therefore, we monitor market developments, and from time to time compare our performance/offering with competitors in both fields.
Below, we compare ourselves to the generalized competitor profiles from both fields to highlight the unique benefits that RIBOPRO can offer to customers by bringing both services under 1 roof. Of course, a more detailed competitor analysis is available upon request.
Focus on large-scale manufacturing sites with end-to-end mfg. Although beneficial for commercial and pandemic situations, these sites struggle to serve customers at the R&D-stage.
RIBOPRO is unique in its deep knowledge of mRNA and delivery, having its own patented technologies, and offering those technologies to the market in an one-stop-shop combination with state-of-the-art manufacturing.
Providing specialized technologies, e.g. ionizable lipids for LNP. mRNA medicines consist of multiple components, thus requiring multiple licenses/partners to complete a product.
Investor profile
Life-science and/or CDMO knowledge. Well-connected.
Investment horizon
Ideally 5-7 years for optimal value creation from the licensing model.
Financial capability
Series A: >1mio. Ideally able to contribute to possible Series B.
Lead investor
We are looking for one new investor to lead Series A.