NanoPhoria closes €83.5 million Series A for its heart failure candidate – one of Italy’s largest 2025 BioTech rounds

Milan-based NanoPhoria Bioscience today announced the successful first close of its €83.5 million Series A financing round – the largest ever Series A round in Italian BioTech history – for its lung-to-heart drug delivery platform.

The round was led by XGEN Venture, Sofinnova Partners, and CDP Venture Capital, with Panakes Partners also investing and one other undisclosed investor joining the round.

“This financing is a transformational milestone for NanoPhoria,” said Claudio De Luca, CEO and Co-founder. “It enables us to accelerate clinical development of NP-MP1 and expand our pipeline. Our innovative delivery platform allows us to target previously inaccessible cellular targets in the cardiomyocyte, thereby bringing us closer to delivering life-changing treatments for patients living with serious cardiac and other chronic conditions who are underserved by existing treatments.”

“We are profoundly grateful to our scientific founders, our investors, our Board, and our Chair, Suman Shirodkar, whose vision and efforts have shaped NanoPhoria’s progress and ambition,” he added.

NanoPhoria’s Series A represents one of the largest European BioTech financings of 2025 in the cardiovascular field. While several there have been several notable investments for cardiac diagnostics and therapeutic innovation, few have matched this scale at such an early stage.

For example, Ultromics in the UK secured €48 million to expand its AI-based cardiology diagnostics; DESKi in France raised €5.2 million for its cardiac imaging platform; and Maxion Therapeutics attracted €68 million to advance its “knotbody” drug platform.

Other BioTech rounds, such as Ciloa’s €6.5 million to develop exosome therapies and SeaBeLife’s €2 million to pursue dual-pathway inhibitors, reflect continued investor interest in life sciences innovation.

However, NanoPhoria stands out as both Italy-based and focused on cardiovascular drug development – an area with relatively few high-value rounds this year – signalling robust investor confidence in targeted delivery technologies and next-generation treatments for heart disease.

“NanoPhoria’s platform has the potential to redefine treatment paradigms in cardiovascular and other chronic diseases which is why we are excited to invest in this company,” added Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners. “This financing builds on the early support of my colleague Lucia Faccio, Partner in the Sofinnova Telethon Strategy, whose role was instrumental in supporting the company in its early days to take shape. The investment reflects Sofinnova’s broader commitment to backing world-class science across Europe, from early-stage company creation to late-stage growth.”

Founded in 2022, NanoPhoria is a preclinical-stage BioTech company pioneering inhalable cardiovascular treatments through non-viral nano-delivery of biologics. The company is developing an innovative proprietary platform designed for tissue-directed delivery of therapeutic peptides and RNAs. At the core of this technology is an inorganic calcium-phosphate nanoparticle – a versatile, biomimetic nano-carrier that can be loaded or surface-decorated with biologics and formulated for inhalation or other routes of administration.

The funding will propel NanoPhoria’s lead candidate, NP-MP1, through IND-enabling studies and early clinical development. NP-MP1 is a first-in-class peptide that targets cardiac L-type calcium channels to improve ejection fraction for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Delivered via NanoPhoria’s proprietary lung-to-heart nano-in-micro technology, NP-MP1 has reportedly demonstrated excellent efficacy in preclinical models of heart failure and aims to address a root cause of HFrEF by improving cardiac contractility.

HFrEF is a condition affecting millions globally with a five-year mortality rate of approximately 40%.

“This investment perfectly aligns with XGEN’s strategy to lead early financing rounds in the most innovative Italian startups that address true medical needs,” said Paolo Fundarò, Managing Partner at XGEN Venture. “NanoPhoria’s science provides a novel, and viable, way of delivering highly potent therapeutics directly to the heart and we look forward to working alongside such a fantastic syndicate of investors.”

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