Laigo Bio secures €17 million in seed funding to develop SureTACs.

      The Dutch biotech company Laigo Bio has developed the SureTACs platform, which focuses on membrane proteins that traditional drug discovery methods have struggled to address. Instead of inhibiting these proteins, it aims to engineer them out of existence. Biovance Capital has joined as a new co-lead investor alongside Kurma Partners in a final funding round that raised an oversubscribed total of €17 million.

      Typically, drugs function by inhibiting proteins, binding to a target to prevent it from causing harm. However, this strategy is effective only when the target presents a suitable pocket to block, and many proteins associated with cancer and autoimmune diseases do not have this. These proteins are membrane-bound, structurally complex, and have been deemed "undruggable" for many years. In contrast, Laigo Bio is adopting a different strategy by cultivating methods for their destruction.

      The company has successfully concluded a final close of its oversubscribed €17 million seed round, incorporating an additional €5.5 million in the second close, building on the €11.5 million raised in December 2025. Along with co-lead Kurma Partners, Biovance Capital is now part of the investor consortium.

      The complete group of investors includes Kurma Partners, Biovance Capital, Curie Capital, Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures, Eurazeo, Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht Region, and Cancer Research Horizons. Dr. João Incio, General Partner at Biovance Capital, will join the Board of Directors as part of this closing.

      Laigo’s SureTACs, which stands for Surface Removal Targeting Chimeras, utilizes a technology that produces bispecific antibodies designed to draw a harmful membrane protein into close proximity with an E3 ligase enzyme on the cell surface. This forced proximity allows the cell's ubiquitination machinery to label the target protein, leading it to be transported to the lysosome for degradation.

      The outcome is not just inhibition but the complete removal of the target protein from the cell surface, achieving a level of selectivity that Laigo claims protects healthy tissues and minimizes side effects compared to traditional methods. The scientific groundwork for this approach was established in Professor Madelon Maurice’s lab at UMC Utrecht and the Oncode Institute.

      Funds from this investment will facilitate the progression of Laigo’s lead oncology programs through the remaining preclinical studies necessary before initiating first-in-human trials. Additionally, the capital will support discovery efforts across three programs aimed at autoimmune and immunology indications, including transplant rejection.

      Laigo's approach is to advance its oncology pipeline through preclinical stages internally before seeking pharmaceutical partners to carry these programs into clinical trials, while the autoimmune initiatives are still in early discovery phases.

      Laigo was established by the Oncode Institute, the Oncode Bridge Fund, and Argobio Studio, an international biotech startup studio co-founded by Kurma Partners, BPI France, and Angelini Ventures. CEO Dr. Matthew Baker, who was appointed in December 2025 after acting in the role, brings over 20 years of experience in drug development within inflammation and oncology.

      This Utrecht-based biotech is among a select group of companies worldwide exploring E3 ligase-mediated degradation of membrane proteins, stepping outside the focus on intracellular targets that well-established firms in targeted protein degradation, like Arvinas and C4 Therapeutics, have prioritized. While membrane proteins pose more complex engineering challenges, they also represent a significant and largely untapped source of validated disease targets.