UNIVERCELLS
Univercells, an innovative bioprocessing provider focused on increasing the availability of affordable biologics to address global health challenges, has announced up to EUR 50M financing from Gamma Biosciences, a new investment platform supported by leading global investment firm KKR, that is focused on next-generation bioprocessing technologies for the production of advanced biologic therapies including gene- and cell-based therapies. The investment will be deployed in a newly created subsidiary of Univercells focused on accelerating the industrialization and commercialization of Univercells’ manufacturing technologies, including the NevoLine™ biomanufacturing platform and the scale-X™ bioreactor portfolio.
With the new financing, Univercells will focus on scaling the NevoLine platform and the scale-X portfolio with a comprehensive approach to streamline production, fund innovation, enable new product and application development and drive commercial acceleration. Specifically, the investment is intended to support continued expansion into the fast-growing gene therapy segment, including new developments that will enable a range of best-in-class solutions for viral manufacturing.
“KKR and Gamma will open access to an unparalleled global network, enabling accelerated production and delivery of the NevoLine and scale-X technologies and driving commercialization,” said Hugues Bultot, CEO of Univercells. “Aligning with high-end sponsors such as KKR that back our mission to have a positive impact on global health is a true honor for our team. This investment builds on existing grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , Global Health Investment Fund and European Investment Bank and secures our ability to create value for the market with speed, efficacy and reliability.”
Both the scale-X bioreactor portfolio and the NevoLine biomanufacturing platform have been designed and commercially validated to reduce dramatically the footprint, capital and operational expenditures required to produce a variety of biologic and viral products. The investment is driven by a shared desire to make these breakthrough technologies more readily accessible and positively impact global health via effective, cost-controlled production solutions.
“KKR, through Gamma Biosciences, seeks to back innovative and impactful next-generation bioprocessing technologies, which is why we are excited to be investing in Univercells and its mission to deliver affordable biologics and gene therapies globally. Furthermore, we are excited to be working with Hugues and his team, who have a fantastic track record of building innovative biomanufacturing companies.” said Kugan Sathiyanandarajah, Director at KKR and Head of Europe for KKR’s Health Care Strategic Growth investing efforts, and Anuv Ratan, Principal at KKR.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2020. Once the transaction is complete, Univercells’ remaining business will concentrate on developing a portfolio of vaccines and biosimilars to be delivered at an affordable price and establishing its services offering.
About Univercells
Univercells
is a business-to-business provider focused on increasing the availability of affordable biologics to address global health challenges. The company is developing turnkey solutions for a series of vaccines and biotherapeutics to be delivered at an affordable price. By relying on proprietary core technologies and a continuous process intensification approach, production is achieved with a smaller footprint and significantly lower overall capital and operational costs.
A global company headquartered in Gosselies (Belgium), Univercells benefits from the support of prominent stakeholders such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Health Investment Fund and the European Investment Bank.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
About Gamma Biosciences
Gamma Biosciences is a life sciences tools platform created by KKR. Gamma’s mission is to build a leading player in next-generation bioprocessing for advanced therapies by acquiring or investing in high-potential businesses with outstanding technology and accelerating their growth.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200218005465/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
LambdaTest and SVAM International Inc. Announce Partnership to Transform Quality Engineering for Businesses26.11.2025 18:00:00 CET | Press release
The alliance empowers enterprises with accelerated SDLC cycles, reduced testing effort, and modern AI-driven digital transformation capabilities LambdaTest, a Gen-AI native quality engineering platform, announced a partnership with SVAM International, Inc., a global leader in digital transformation services. This strategic alliance marks a significant step forward in their mission to transform quality engineering for businesses worldwide. The partnership allows LambdaTest to extend its AI-native quality engineering capabilities into SVAM’s extensive digital transformation ecosystem. By integrating with SVAM’s experience in large-scale application development, testing, and delivery across major New York State and City agencies, as well as their platform expertise across Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Dynamics365, LambdaTest will empower more enterprises to modernize their software delivery pipelines. With LambdaTest’s intelligent test orchestration and execution engine at the core, teams c
GLORY Acquires Remaining Equity Shares in Acrelec Group26.11.2025 16:11:00 CET | Press release
Acrelec becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Glory Glory Global Solutions (International) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GLORY Ltd. [TYO:6457], has announced the acquisition of the remaining equity shares in Acrelec Group SAS. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251126039437/en/ Acrelec is a global technology company focused on reinventing the customer experience for restaurant and retail brands. Leveraging decades of software, hardware and service expertise, the company develops and integrates new platforms that increase customer engagement, optimize efficiency and improve operations. With over 120,000 installations across more than 70 countries, Acrelec counts many of the world’s best-known restaurant mega-brands among its customers. We announce that Jalel Souissi has left the Acrelec Group following the completion of the recent share acquisition. Jalel Souissi has played a pivotal role in the development and
Andersen Global styrker sin platform i Tyrkiet med tilføjelsen af medlemsvirksomhed26.11.2025 14:49:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse
Andersen Global udvider sin tilstedeværelse i Tyrkiet, efter at Celen Corporate Property Valuation & Counseling Inc. bliver til Andersen i Tyrkiet, hvilket udvider de kompetencer, der tilbydes under Andersen-brandet i landet. Det Istanbul-baserede firma blev stiftet i 1995 og ledes af Managing Partner Guniz Celen med en bred vifte af ydelser til både nationale og internationale kunder. Med ekspertise inden for finansiering af fast ejendom, værdiansættelse af materielle og immaterielle aktiver samt formueforvaltning leverer den tyrkiske afdeling af Andersen løsninger, der understøtter komplekse finansielle beslutninger for kunder i mere end 18 lande. “Vores mission har altid været at levere løsninger på de mest komplekse udfordringer inden for ejendoms- og investeringssektoren,” sagde Guniz. “At blive en del af Andersen-brandet styrker vores kompetencer som en betroet rådgiver og giver os adgang til globale ressourcer, hvilket gør os i stand til at skabe endnu større langsigtet værdi fo
Cegid Acquires Shine to Accelerate the Path of Becoming Europe's Leading Financial Copilot for SMBs and Accountants26.11.2025 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Transformative combination creates a powerhouse for SMBs and accountants, empowering businesses across Europe by integrating leading suites of e-invoicing, digital accounting, business accounts and payments, and HR solutions into a unified platform. Cegid, a European leader in cloud software for finance, accounting, HR, and retail software, and Shine, a fast-growing European fintech unicorn providing digital business accounts and payments, e-invoicing, accounting, and payroll software to small businesses across Europe, announced today that the companies have entered a definitive agreement to join forces to form a European champion and become a leading provider of software for businesses and their accountants. This transformational combination will create the first fully integrated, cloud-native and AI-driven financial hub for SMBs and accounting professionals in Europe – bringing together market-leading capabilities in e-invoicing, accounting, digital business accounts and payments, ta
U.S. FDA Grants Priority Review to Sonrotoclax for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma26.11.2025 12:00:00 CET | Press release
If approved, sonrotoclax will become the first BCL2 inhibitor for R/R MCL in the U.S., addressing a high unmet need in an aggressive cancerSonrotoclax previously received Breakthrough Therapy Designation based on clinically meaningful, rapid responses in R/R MCLBeOne Medicines will present the data supporting the NDA and Priority Review for the first time at ASH 2025 BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted Priority Review to a New Drug Application (NDA) for sonrotoclax, a next-generation BCL2 inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), following treatment with a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. “Sonrotoclax is advancing with remarkable speed, from Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Priority Review, all within a short window,” said Lai Wang, Ph.D., Global Head of R&D at BeOne.
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom