Cancer and immunology player Umlaut.bio adds funding to reach ~€3 million pre-Seed total

Umlaut.bio, a German/Swiss oncology/immunology BioTech company developing tRNA-modifying small molecules, announced the extension of its pre-Seed financing to ~€3 million through the support of BaseLaunch.

This addition not only helps to accelerate its science addressing tRNA modifications through the expertise of BaseLaunch but also highlights the potential of the approach through the approval by the industry partners of BaseLaunch.

Karsten Fischer, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Umlaut comments: “With BaseLaunch and Prof Distler and Prof Suzuki, Umlaut was able to add significant expertise, as well as a top-tier network within the pharmaceutical industry to advance its preclinical and clinical development. With this, we have taken the next steps in developing therapeutic molecules based on this novel fundamental biological principle.”

EU-Startups’ 2025–2026 coverage shows continued investment across European oncology, immunology and adjacent therapeutic BioTech segments.

In the UK, T-Therapeutics secured €27.5 million in a Series A extension to develop T-cell receptor bispecific therapeutics for autoimmune and oncology indications. In Spain, Highlight Therapeutics raised €15 million to advance clinical development of immunotherapy for skin tumours.

Earlier-stage rounds include Vienna-based Graph Therapeutics with €3 million to progress an AI-enabled drug discovery platform targeting inflammation and immunology, Paris-based Exeliom Biosciences with €2.85 million to accelerate immunotherapy programmes in cancer and immuno-inflammatory diseases, and Belgian company Quidditas Therapeutics with €2.62 million to advance its genome editing platform.

In aggregate, these disclosed rounds amount to approximately €52 million invested into the sector during the period. Against this backdrop, Umlaut.bio’s ~€3 million pre-Seed extension sits within the typical €2–3 million range seen for early-stage platform BioTechs advancing preclinical programmes, while larger cheques have been directed towards companies with assets closer to or in clinical development.

Founded in 2024, Umlaut.bio is a BioTech company focused on developing first-in-biology therapies targeting cancer and inflammatory diseases. Small molecules will be developed to inhibit key steps in tRNA modification synthesis, thereby preventing overactivation of a multitude of signaling pathways at scale. This hallmark of uncontrolled cell proliferation in cancer and autoimmune diseases cannot be addressed with chemotherapy or by targeting individual proteins.

Umlaut will further strengthen its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) with two experts.

• Prof Dr Oliver Distler is a renowned key opinion leader in the field of Systemic Sclerosis, driving preclinical research up to shaping the guidelines for patient treatment. His most important memberships include Chair Executive Committee of the FOREUM Foundation (Foundation for Research in Rheumatology), Co-Chair of ERS/EULAR Guidelines (European Respiratory Society), Scientific evaluation board, Pfizer Research Foundation, and Scientific advisory board of the AbbVie Rheumatology Grant. He will support Umlaut in the development of its programme in Systemic Sclerosis.
• Prof. Dr. Tsutomu Suzuki’s research centres on RNA biochemistry, especially on the biogenesis and function of tRNA modifications, and molecular mechanisms of protein synthesis. He is heading the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, University of Tokyo and is one of the highest cited tRNA researchers. Prof Suzuki will complement the scientific excellence of Umlaut in spearheading the development of its first-in-biology small molecules that inhibit tRNA modification enzymes.

According to the company, making this new regulatory layer druggable has the promise of addressing the shortcomings of current cancer and autoimmune treatments.

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