Laigo Bio, an Utrecht-based company pioneering novel and highly differentiated therapies using its proprietary SureTAC precision membrane protein degradation platform, has successfully raised €11.5 million in Seed financing.
The funding round was co-led by Kurma Partners and Curie Capital. The other investors were Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures (the venture capital arm of Angelini Industries), Eurazeo, theOncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht region, and UK-based Cancer Research Horizons, the translation subsidiary of Cancer Research UK.
Laigo Bio’s origins also link back to Argobio, the French BioTech startup studio that launched in 2021 with €50 million committed to creating and developing pioneering therapeutic spinouts across oncology, immunology, rare diseases and neurological disorders.
“This Seed funding is a strong endorsement of both the scientific foundation and the unique potential of our approach enabling selective degradation of membrane-bound targets involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” says Dr Matthew Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Laigo Bio.
In 2025, several European startups operating in adjacent fields of immunology, inflammation and immuno-oncology also secured funding, underscoring steady – though selective – investment activity in this area.
Austria’s Graph Therapeutics raised €3 million in pre-Seed financing to advance its AI-enabled inflammation and immunology drug-discovery platform. France-based Exeliom Biosciences added €2.85 million in a Series A extension to progress its microbiome-based immunotherapies for cancer and immuno-inflammatory conditions. Meanwhile, UK company T-Therapeutics secured a €27.5 million Series A extension to develop its T-cell receptor bispecific platform for autoimmune disease and oncology.
Altogether, these rounds represent roughly €33 million flowing into related sectors during 2025.
Within this landscape, Laigo Bio’s €11.5 million Seed round positions the Dutch startup among a focused cohort of European companies developing next-generation immunology and oncology technologies.
“With these resources, we are well positioned to initiate discovery efforts in auto-immunity and to advance our oncology programmes through preclinical development. Our team remains focused on achieving key preclinical milestones and progressing our first-in-class lead programmes toward early clinical evaluation, to deliver transformative therapies for patients,” adds Dr Baker.
Laigo Bio was founded by the Oncode Institute, together with the Oncode Bridge Fund, and Argobio Studio, an international BioTech start-up studio launched by Kurma Partners, BPI France and Angelini Ventures.
Laigo Bio is leveraging E3 ligase internalisation for the selective degradation of membrane-bound targets involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its proprietary SureTAC platform creates bispecific antibodies that target the optimal pair of E3 ligase and disease-causing target to stimulate ubiquitination and lysosomal degradation of the target protein with a high degree of specificity.
Degradation of the target protein achieves deeper inhibition of disease pathways, while sparing the desirable functions of the target cell.
Surface Removal Targeting Chimeras (SureTAC), developed by Prof Madelon Maurice’s laboratory at the UMC Utrecht, are proprietary therapeutic candidates for targeted degradation of membrane proteins, that have been validated as disease drivers but have eluded drug discovery, and were long considered ‘undruggable’.
“Kurma is excited to support a company with such a promising technology platform targeting disease pathways that have long been deemed undruggable,” says Thierry Laugel, Chairman of the Management Board of Argobio and Managing Partner at Kurma Partners.
The company will use the proceeds to advance its SureTAC oncology programs towards clinical development, and to accelerate discovery and development of its three SureTAC immunology candidate therapeutic programs for selected autoimmune and immunology indications and graft rejection.
In its oncology programmes aimed at the immune checkpoint PD-L1 and VEGF, and a hard-to-drug Wnt pathway receptor, Laigo Bio has reportedly shown that its SureTAC degradation technology results in in vivo and in vitro efficacy. SureTACs show a high degree of selectivity for targeting diseased tissue, resulting in improved toxicity and safety.
Laigo Bio intends to advance its oncology programmes internally until completion of preclinical studies before collaborating with pharmaceutical partners to bring them into the clinic.
Laigo Bio also announces the appointment of Dr Matthew Baker, the current acting Chief Executive Officer, as its CEO.
“Curie Capital is proud to support development of Laigo Bio’s SureTac unique platform technology because of its promise in addressing very specific therapeutic targets in diseases with high unmet medical need,” says Mariëtte Roesink, Managing Partner of Curie Capital.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/12/targeting-the-undruggable-laigo-bio-secures-e11-5-million-to-advance-its-suretac-protein-degradation-platform/
