Laigo Bio Raises €11.5M To Drive Development Of Its SureTAC Protein Degradation Platform

The round was co-led by Kurma Partners and Curie Capital, with additional participation from Argobio Studio, Angelini Ventures (the venture capital arm of Angelini Industries), Eurazeo, the Oncode Bridge Fund, ROM Utrecht Region, and Cancer Research Horizons, the UK-based translation arm of Cancer Research UK.

Laigo Bio traces its origins to Argobio, the French biotech startup studio launched in 2021 with €50 million dedicated to building innovative therapeutic spinouts in 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 working in adjacent areas of immunology, inflammation, and immuno-oncology also attracted new financing, highlighting continued albeit selective investment activity across the sector.

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Austria’s Graph Therapeutics secured €3 million in pre-Seed funding to advance its AI-driven inflammation and immunology drug-discovery platform. Exeliom Biosciences in France raised an additional €2.85 million through a Series A extension to support the development of its microbiome-based immunotherapies for cancer and immuno-inflammatory diseases. In the UK, T-Therapeutics obtained a €27.5 million Series A extension to further progress its T-cell receptor bispecific platform targeting autoimmune disorders and oncology.

Altogether, these financings amount to approximately €33 million invested into related fields in 2025.

Against this backdrop, Laigo Bio’s €11.5 million Seed round places the Dutch company among a select group of European innovators advancing 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, in collaboration with the Oncode Bridge Fund and Argobio Studio, an international biotech start-up studio established by Kurma Partners, Bpifrance, and Angelini Ventures.

The company is pioneering the use of E3 ligase internalisation to enable selective degradation of membrane-bound targets implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Through its proprietary SureTAC platform, Laigo Bio engineers bispecific antibodies that pair an optimal E3 ligase with a disease-driving membrane protein, triggering targeted ubiquitination and lysosomal degradation with exceptional specificity.

By degrading the disease-causing protein rather than merely inhibiting it, the approach delivers deeper pathway suppression while preserving the beneficial functions of the target cell.

Surface Removal Targeting Chimeras (SureTACs) developed in the laboratory of Prof. Madelon Maurice at UMC Utrecht represent a new class of therapeutic candidates designed to eliminate validated membrane protein targets that have historically resisted drug discovery efforts 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 new funding to advance its SureTAC oncology programs toward clinical development and to accelerate discovery and development of its three SureTAC immunology candidates targeting selected autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, as well as graft rejection.

Across its oncology programs directed at the immune checkpoint PD-L1, VEGF, and a difficult-to-target Wnt pathway receptor Laigo Bio has demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro efficacy using its SureTAC degradation technology. The SureTAC approach shows strong selectivity for diseased tissue, supporting an improved toxicity and safety profile.

Laigo Bio plans to progress its oncology programs through preclinical development internally before partnering with pharmaceutical companies to take them into clinical studies.

The company has also announced the appointment of Dr. Matthew Baker, previously acting Chief Executive Officer, as its permanent 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.

About Laigo Bio

Laigo Bio’s SureTAC platform enables rapid creation of first-in-class bispecific therapies that selectively degrade disease-driving membrane targets, including those long viewed as undruggable. Focused on expanding this target universe the company seeks strategic partners to advance transformative treatments for conditions with limited options, driving innovation toward a healthier future.