Marseille-based Adcytherix, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel and proprietary antibody drug conjugates (ADC), has raised €105 million in a Series A financing round to advance its lead candidate and treat high unmet need diseases
The round was co-led by Andera Partners, Angelini Ventures, Bpifrance (as part of both Large Venture and InnoBio investment strategies) and Kurma Partners, followed by Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), aMoon and existing shareholders Pontifax, DawnBiopharma (a platform controlled by KKR), Pureos Bioventures and RA Capital. The transaction represents the first investment from Andera Partners’ new BioDiscovery 7 fund.
Jack Elands, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Adcytherix, commented: “Closing the largest ADC-focused Series A in Europe in 2025 validates our science, our vision, and the exceptional work of our team since inception just 18 months ago. We are proud to have attracted a world-class syndicate of investors who share our ambition to develop breakthrough ADCs for patients resistant to the current classes of ADCs.”
The Series A financing of Adcytherix follows other significant bioconjugate and oncology-focused rounds such as yesterday’s Tubulis’s €308 million Series C to advance its antibody-drug conjugate pipeline from Munich, and Ciloa’s €6.5 million raise in Montpellier to progress engineered exosome therapies.
Together, these rounds illustrate sustained investor appetite for novel biologic modalities in Europe, spanning both antibody-based and vesicle-based therapeutics. Adcytherix’s funding positions it alongside Tubulis within a dynamic ADC landscape, with both companies expanding European capabilities in targeted oncology drug development.
Sofia Ioannidou, PhD, Partner at Andera Partners, added: “We are delighted to make our first investment from the BioDiscovery 7 fund in this landmark transaction. Adcytherix stands out with its deep ADC expertise, a differentiated lead programme, and a distinctive strategy focused on novel payload classes with the potential to both expand the reach of ADCs to tumors that currently respond poorly or not at all to this modality, and to overcome resistance mechanisms observed with commonly used payloads.
“We look forward to supporting Jack and his team as they build a next-generation ADC platform capable of delivering transformative therapies to patients.”
Founded in 2024, Adcytherix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel ADC to treat high unmet need diseases such as cancer. The company was founded by Jack Elands and Pontifax Venture Capital with two other executives of Emergence Therapeutics, Xavier Preville and Carsten Dehning as Co-founders.
Adcytherix’s ambition is to become a significant independent ADC powerhouse driving the development of transformational ADC technology for targeted cancer therapy.
The new funding will enable the company to advance its lead candidate ADCX-020 into the clinic, with first investigational new drug (IND – US) and clinical trial applications (CTA – EU, UK and Canada) filings planned by end 2025.
In parallel, Adcytherix will expand its pipeline of proprietary ADCs using novel payloads.
Sofia Ioannidou of Andera Partners will also be joining the Supervisory Committee following the Series A financing.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/10/with-its-notable-e105-million-raise-french-biotech-startup-adcytherix-looks-to-tackle-cancer-with-novel-adc/
