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Founded in 2001 and located in Zurich, Aravis is the first independent Swiss on-shore private equity house. With a track record of investment in the renewable energy and life science spaces, Aravis is currently managing more than a quarter of a billion Swiss francs.

With a long track record in life sciences and two life science investment funds (ARAVIS Biotech I and ARAVIS Biotech II), Aravis has held an early stage stake in some of the more eye-catching Swiss life science companies and has had over the years some notable exits through reverse takeover,  IPO or acquisition.

Aravis has a distinct and crafted approach to investment, taking a “hands on” approach that balances between finance, commercial assets and people. This approach transcends industry sector and with years of collected experience and expertise, Aravis has established a comprehensive investment platform that also incorporates accounting, regulatory and reporting expertise specific to Switzerland but also more widely. This means that Aravis is well placed to manage external funds for clients and institutions as well as putting together further internal funds focused on current and new industry sectors

Ennar Pharma was founded in July 2010 to develop a better and safer topical treatment for mild-to-moderate psoriasis. Patents, protecting the technology, have been granted in Europe and the USA. The company is financially supported by an investment by EVA- a Basel based venture capital company- and uses a network of strategic partners to develop the production of EGF and develop a suitable cream-based pharmaceutical product. Producers for the cGMP production of high-quality EGF(epidermal growth factor) and for a stable cream formulation of the active ingredient have been contracted and a Proof-of-Concept trial is running at the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Zurich. The trial, which is carried out with mild-to-moderate psoriasis patients, aims to establish the validity of the mode-of-action proposed for the EGF-based topical formulation and test an optimised formulation for clinical efficacy and safety. Results of the trial are expected in Q1 2013.

Immune Design is a privately held biotechnology company based in Seattle, Washington and formed in 2008 to bring together some of the world’s leaders in the field of immunology, and their technologies, to develop therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of infectious and malignant disease. The company’s scientific founders are Dr. David Baltimore (Past President of Caltech, Rockefeller University, and the Whitehead Institute and the Co-Recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), Dr. Steven Reed (Past Co-founder and CSO of Corixa and Founder/CEO of the Infectious Diseases Research Institute), and Dr. Larry Corey (President and Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Professor of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington). To date Immune Design has raised approximately $52 million from The Column Group, Alta Partners, Versant Ventures, and Proquest.  
Immune Design leverages its unique vaccine technologies to precisely control the activation and context of antigen presentation by dendritic cells in order to shape the desired adaptive immune response.  The first technology is a novel adjuvant for recombinant protein antigen (rP)-based vaccines comprising Glucopyranosyl Lipid A (GLA), a synthetic TLR4 agonist, formulated in a stable 2% oil-in-water emulsion (SE). Adjuvants can play an important role in vaccine therapies by stimulating the immune system's response to the target antigen. GLA is the first ‘designer adjuvant’ and was developed by Immune Design co-founder Dr. Steve Reed.  To date GLA-SE has been safely administered in over 300 human subjects.   

Our second vaccine platform is a novel lentivirus-based vector, ID-LV (Immune Design-Lentiviral Vector). The prototype of ID-LV was developed by Immune Design co-founder, Dr. David Baltimore. ID-LV is unique in that it can stimulate the body’s own dendritic cells (DCs), the “sentinels” of the immune system, to produce any, and importantly, multiple antigens of interest in the same product configuration, effectively orchestrating the human immune system to respond to targeted diseases.  Immune Design’s ID-LV and GLA-SE vaccine technologies are immunologically synergistic, as documented in animal models, and thus, have the potential to be used both alone and in combination to create the next generation of vaccines for diseases with unmet medical need.

Xiber is a biopharmaceutical start–up company. Xiber develops new peptide drugs to improve outcome of critical care & transplant patients. Xiber’s peptide drugs preserve organ function & prevent organ failure. Xiber will enter market by two niche indications: Acute Lung Injury & Primary Graft Dysfunction after Lung Transplantation – with a total market volume of 630 Mio. USD.
In 2015 Xiber will complete the preclinical development for both indications. A phase I clinical trial will start in the beginning of 2016.
Xiber is a spin-off of the Medical University of Vienna. The majority of the shares is owned by the founders. The University holds a non-controlling interest and rewards its shares by providing cooperation, infrastructure, facility services and management support.
To drive its developmental program till the completion of a phase I trial Xiber needs ~ 4 Mio €. This is largely covered by Austrian funds and loans. For the remaining  Xiber seeks 2 Mio € equity from VC partner. Xiber has already signed a LOI with an established VC company.