Frankfurt/Main (Germany), 17th September 2008. IonGate Biosciences GmbH announces the closing of a new round of funding amounting to EUR 1 million. The capital contribution comes in as the new investor Hessen Kapital I GmbH joins in a silent partnership with IonGate and it will be used for further expansion of the US business as well as for the increase of the global commercialization of SURFE2R Technology (SURFace Electrogenic Event Reader).

After initializing its international marketing activities at the beginning of 2008, IonGate now advances on its way towards international market positioning. Following the foundation of IonGate Biosciences Inc. in January, the start of a cooperation with the Japanese vendor BRC in March and of a strategic marketing partnership with US-based company ARTEL in June, IonGate’s next steps will follow: The raised fund will support IonGate’s US sales activities to meet the increasing demand for the recently launched SURFE2R Workstation 5000. Furthermore, the invested capital will push the development of the technology platform and the SURFE2R product family.

Hessen Kapital is a fund of the state of Hesse for Hessian medium-sized business to strenghten the companies’ equity base. Hessen Kapital joins as IonGate’s third investor, following Heidelberg Innovation and KfW.

About IonGate Biosciences GmbH

IonGate Biosciences GmbH develops, produces and markets innovative screening technologies to investigate transporters and is the worldwide leading company in this area.

Transporters are essential for the metabolic functions of the cell, information processing in the entire organism, and also play a fundamental role in the health of humans. Due to their difficult experimental accessibility transporters are underrepresented in current drug screening processes to date. For the first time, IonGate’s SURFE2R One and SURFE2R Workstation 500 provide highly precise functional screening of transporters in higher-throughput and thus positions itself as a leading partner for the pharmaceutical industry. With its SURFE2R Workstation 500 IonGate has created a technological basis for an automated and robust analytical technique. The company provides total system solutions, encompassing disposables and reagents, as well as individual consulting services, which include the design of customized applications.

IonGate Biosciences GmbH is a venture capital financed biotechnology company located in Frankfurt/Main, Germany and Portland / Maine, USA. In addition to the main financier and leading partner Heidelberg Innovation the KfW holds a stake in IonGate. The company was established in 2000 and currently employs more than 30 staff members.

Contact
Wolfgang Lerch
Managing Director
IonGate Biosciences GmbH
Industriepark Hoechst / Building D528
65926 Frankfurt/Main
Germany
phone +49.69.305.85 400
fax +49.69.305.85 444
email info@iongate.net

Wolfgang Lerch
President
IonGate Biosciences Inc.
25 Bradley Drive
Westbrook, Maine 04092-2013
U.S.A.
phone: +1.207.591.6376
fax: +1.207.591.6377
email info@iongate.net

Media inquiries
Dr. Holger Bengs
Biotech Consulting
phone +49.69.619.94 273
fax +49.69.619.94 249
email info@holgerbengs.de

This release was published on openPR.