- Financing led by Asabys, with participation from CDTI with its SICC Innvierte and the Institut Català de Finances (ICF)
- Proceeds will accelerate the expansion of ALLOX’s high-throughput biophysics and AI drug discovery platform and the advancement of a focused pipeline of small molecules against high-value, historically difficult-to-drug protein-protein interactions and transcription factors
- Seasoned biotech executive and investor Morten Graugaard, Co-founder and CBO of Orbis Medicines, appointed Independent Chair of the Boa
ALLOX, a biotechnology company developing a high-throughput, experimental-first platform to discover and exploit allosteric sites and other regulatory regions for drug discovery, today announced the successful closing of its US$10.5m (€9.4m) seed financing round and the appointment of Morten Graugaard as Independent Chair of its Board of Directors. The round was led by Asabys, through its Sabadell Asabys II fund, with participation from CDTI with its SICC Innvierte and the Institut Català de Finances (ICF).
The proceeds will be used to scale and expand ALLOX’s platform capabilities and to develop proprietary AI models that predict therapeutic hotspots from the company’s large, function-first biophysical datasets, accelerating the discovery of selective allosteric modulators of protein-protein interactions and transcription factors. The financing will also strengthen ALLOX’s internal drug discovery team as it advances multiple drug discovery programs towards a focused pipeline of proprietary small-molecule assets, while enabling strategic research collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.
Morten Graugaard brings more than 20 years of experience across life sciences venture investing, R&D, business development and M&A, as well as building, scaling and running biotech companies. He is currently Chief Business Officer of Orbis Medicines, an AI-first oral biologics company he was instrumental in building and scaling, first as Executive Chair and then as Chief Executive Officer. Previously, he was a Partner and Investment Director at Novo Holdings. As Director of Corporate Development at Lundbeck A/S, he led the company’s successful US$658 million acquisition of Chelsea Therapeutics and was a key member of the deal team that negotiated a US$1.8 billion global alliance with Otsuka Pharmaceutical. Over the past decade, he has held chair, board and advisory roles at several biotechnology companies, including Syndesi Therapeutics, which was acquired by AbbVie for up to US$1 billion in 2022.
Júlia Domingo, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of ALLOX, said: “This financing marks an important milestone, enabling us to advance our internal drug discovery pipeline while expanding the capabilities of our experimental platform and proprietary AI models. By combining large-scale functional data with predictive AI, we aim to unlock a much broader range of challenging drug targets and accelerate the discovery of truly differentiated small-molecule therapeutics. Morten’s guidance and leadership, along with the support of our investors, will be instrumental in advancing our programs and maximizing the long-term potential of our platform.”
Morten Graugaard, newly appointed Independent Chair of the Board of ALLOX, commented: “ALLOX is addressing one of the most important challenges in drug discovery by unlocking therapeutic opportunities that have historically proven difficult to drug. The team is building a differentiated platform based on high-throughput biophysical data, that stands at the intersection of experimental biology and computation, with the potential to create new drug discovery opportunities. Importantly, ALLOX fills a critical data gap, enabling the development of functional molecules rather than simply identifying binders. I’m excited to join ALLOX at such a pivotal stage of its development and I look forward to working alongside Júlia, the leadership team and the Board as the company scales its platform and pipeline.”
Clara Campàs, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Asabys Partners, noted: “We believe ALLOX is uniquely positioned to expand the scope of druggable biology. The seed financing and Morten’s appointment strengthen both the company’s execution capacity and governance as it advances its platform and begins to translate it into a focused therapeutic pipeline. Given his longstanding track record of success, Morten’s appointment is a huge vote of confidence in ALLOX and its approach.”
ALLOX combines high-throughput genetics, experimental biology and AI to systematically map and discover the functional hotspots that govern protein folding and interactions. By measuring the effects of thousands of mutations in parallel, its platform reveals allosteric, orthosteric and other regulatory sites, including new potential binding pockets. This information can then be leveraged to design targeted small-molecule therapeutics against high-value targets that have historically proven difficult to drug, such as intracellular PPIs and transcription factors.
About ALLOX
ALLOX (Allostery Exploration Technologies, S.L.) is a Barcelona-based biotechnology company developing an experimental and AI-enabled platform for the systematic discovery of allosteric drug targets. By combining high-throughput genetics, computational biology and drug discovery, ALLOX aims to identify functional sites in proteins that can unlock new therapeutic approaches for previously difficult-to-drug targets. ALLOX is a spin-out of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and was co-founded by Professor Ben Lehner, FRS, FMedSci, Head of Generative Genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a renowned researcher in predictive biology and genetics. For more information, visit www.allox.bio.
About Asabys Partners
Asabys Partners is a Barcelona-based venture capital firm focused on innovation in healthcare and life sciences. With over €400 million in AUM and 24 portfolio companies, Asabys is supported by Alantra and backed by Banc Sabadell as anchor investor. The investment was made through Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments II, FCR, and Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments 2B, SCR, S.A. This operation benefits from support from the European Union under the InvestEU Fund. This support is provided through the European Investment Fund (EIF). Find out more at www.asabys.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
About CDTI
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI, E.P.E.) is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, dedicated to driving technological innovation across the business sector. The CDTI’s mission is to empower the Spanish business ecosystem to transform scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable, and inclusive growth.
INNVIERTE Economía Sostenible SICC S.M.E., S.A. is an initiative created by the CDTI, E.P.E. Its aim is to promote business innovation by supporting venture capital investment in technology-based or innovative companies. This entity, established as part of the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation, is a closed-end, self-managed collective investment company supervised by the National Securities Market Commission. For further information, please visit https://www.cdti.es/en and https://www.innvierte.es/en
About Institut Català de Finances
The Institut Català de Finances (ICF) is the public financial institution of the Government of Catalonia. Through loans, guarantees and venture capital investment, ICF supports the growth of Catalan companies and the development of strategic and innovative projects.
With a strong track record in financing innovation and technology transfer, ICF plays an active role in the Catalan health and life sciences ecosystem, supporting companies in bringing scientific knowledge and breakthrough technologies closer to the market. Since 1985, ICF has financed more than 37,000 companies, providing over €17 billion in funding.
