The financing was led by Finland’s Lifeline Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneurs.

This follows on from the first close of 10 million EUR in June 2022. This final close of 12 million EUR includes 5.9 million EUR equity from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund as well as a 2.1 million EUR grant from EIC’s Accelerator programme, as well as investments from Stephen Industries Inc Oy and ACME Investments SPF Sàrl. The EIC Fund is TILT’s first significant international investor. The EIC investment decision followed a due diligence process by the European Investment Bank, which supports the EIC Fund as Investment Advisor.

“We saw the potential in TILT’s cancer immunotherapies early on and continue to build on that potential in Europe as well as the U.S market with this funding round.”

“We invest in future category-leading companies with strong founders, and support them through their growth. We saw the potential in TILT’s cancer immunotherapies early on and continue to build on that potential in Europe as well as the U.S market with this funding round,” says Timo Ahopelto, Founding Partner of Lifeline Ventures.

Advance to Phase II

The funding will be used to advance to Phase II the company’s combination trials which use oncolytic immunotherapies synergistically with checkpoint inhibitors.

“We’re pleased to have achieved this round to advance our promising pipeline of armed oncolytic viruses. Our trials are progressing well through Phase I, and this new funding will support us in progressing them into Phase II, another key step for these new therapies to reach patients in a range of cancers,” says TILT Biotherapeutics’ founder and CEO, Akseli Hemminki.

The heart of TILT’s innovative approach revolves around the use of armed oncolytic adenoviruses, using cytokines and other molecules to boost the patient’s immune response to better enable it to find and destroy cancer cells. The company is advancing its pipeline of programs including its lead asset TILT-123, in further clinical trials, including in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Photo of Akseli Hemminki: TILT Biotherapeutics