Paris, France, September 14, 2022 – Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), a leading independent Private Equity firm dedicated to biotech and biopharma, announced today that it has co-led a Series B financing round in SparingVision, a privately held French biotech company. As a spin-off of the Paris Vision Institute and the result of more than 20 years of scientific research, SparingVision develops genetic innovative therapies in ophthalmology for the treatment of blinding inherited retinal diseases.
Jeito is co-leading this round with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Enterprise (UMPCE), and with participation from Ysios Capital, 4Bio, Bpifrance and the RD Fund, the venture arm of Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB).
Proceeds from the financing will be primarily used to advance the development of SparingVision’s breakthrough lead treatments, SPVN06 and SPVN20, for a very unique mutation-agnostic approach leading to new treatments in retinitis pigmentosa (“RP”) one of the leading inherited causes of blindness. Most notably, the funding will support SparingVision’s first-in-human studies, bringing lead assets to clinical validation. Proceeds will also accelerate the development of other innovative genomic medicines products of the pipeline.
SparingVision was Jeito’s first French investment following Jeito’s fund I launch in January 2020. In co-leading this Series B financing, Jeito Capital is demonstrating its commitment to invest significant capital in continuity, throughout the different development stages of a promising biotech company, to build market leaders with accelerated patients’ access globally, especially in Europe and the United States.
Since 2020 and its first round of financing, SparingVision deployed a very coherent and strong build-up strategy to serve its ambition: (i) acquiring GAMUT Therapeutics, a French biotechnology company pioneering a unique gene-independent approach for more advanced patients; (ii) also signing a strategic collaboration with Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NTLA), a leading clinical-stage genome editing company. This ambition is served by a reinforced team with world-renowned executive leaders based in France and in the US.
Dr Rafaèle Tordjman, founder and CEO of Jeito, said: “SparingVision is one of Jeito’s first investments and we are thrilled today to confirm our support to the Company’s strategy for the best of patients. Key milestones have been achieved and the Company will be able to accelerate its two lead assets towards clinical proof of concept. Our new investment in SparingVision illustrates perfectly Jeito Capital’s mission to build market leaders with global reach to bring ground-breaking therapies to patients with high unmet needs. We invest in continuity, supporting promising biotech companies to help them reach the market and thus the patients. We look forward to continuing supporting SparingVision’s future successes to contribute in building a global leader in genomics for ocular Diseases.”
Sabine Dandiguian, Managing Partner of Jeito, said: “We are very pleased to support the success of SparingVision’s incredible management team. True to its values and investment thesis, Jeito is committed to accompany the company with significant funding in continuity, to build the best multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team of research and biotech experts to accelerate its development through targeted acquisitions. The future therapies, SPVN06, SPVN20 and tomorrow SPVN50, could change the lives of millions of patients suffering from Inherited Retinal Diseases and dry Age Macular Degeneration.”
Stéphane Boissel, President, and Chief Executive Officer of SparingVision, said: “With this financing, we are taking a significant step towards achieving clinical validation of our two lead assets and bringing mutation-agnostic genomic medicines to millions of patients affected by IRDs and dry AMD. Our ambition does not stop here, and we remain fully concentrated on our three core pillars of exploration: our mutation-agnostic gene therapies, the genome editing technology toolbox of our strategic partner Intellia Therapeutics and the potential of in-vivo reprogramming in the retina. My thanks go to our investors for their continued support, especially to Jeito Capital which brings a vision and expertise across the entire drug value chain, and to everyone at SparingVision for their hard work and dedication to bringing vision-saving treatments to patients.”
About Jeito Capital
Jeito Capital is a global leading investment company with a patient benefit driven approach that finances and accelerates the development and growth of ground-breaking medical innovation. Jeito empowers and supports entrepreneurs through its expert, integrated, multi-talented team and through the investment of significant capital to ensure the growth of companies, building market leaders in their respective therapeutic areas with accelerated patients’ access in Europe and the United States. Jeito Capital has €534 million under management and a rapidly growing portfolio of investments. Jeito Capital is based in Paris with a presence in Europe and the United States.
For more information, please visit www.jeito.life, or follow @Jeito_life on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About SparingVision
SparingVision is a genomic medicines company with a mission to translate pioneering science into vision saving treatments. Leveraging its unparalleled understanding of retinal diseases, SparingVision has built the world’s most compelling portfolio of synergistic cutting-edge gene therapy and genome editing treatments for inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Both of its most advanced products, SPVN06 and SPVN20 look to go beyond single gene correction therapies to deliver new mutation agnostic treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a group of IRDs which are the leading cause of blindness globally. The Company also has a strategic collaboration with Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NTLA) to develop novel genome editing-based treatments for ocular diseases utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
Headquartered in Paris and Philadelphia, SparingVision is backed by high-quality international investors including 4BIO Capital, AdBio Partners, Bpifrance, RD Fun, the venture arm of Foundation Fighting Blindness (US), Fondation Voir & Entendre, Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NTLA), UPMC Enterprises, Jeito Capital, and Ysios Capital.
For more information, please visit www.sparingvision.com, and follow @SparingVision on Twitter or LinkedIn.
For more information, please contact:
Jeito Capital
Rafaèle Tordjman
Assia Mouhout, PA
assia@jeito.life
Tél. : +33 6 76 49 37 94
TBWA
Marion Bougeard
marion.bougeard@tbwa-corporate.com
Zied Salhi
zied.salhi@tbwa-corporate.com
Tél. : +33 6 76 73 57 31