# Inserm Transfert Initiative

> Inserm Transfert Initiative is a VC fund backing Biotechnology and Medical. See 22 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Paris, France
- Total investments: 22
- Last investment: Oct 2025
- Lead investor: 5%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- Website: http://www.it-initiative.fr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InsermT/

Inserm Transfert Initiative is a seed stage life science vehicle currently managing about €4.2M for the financing of new biotech companies. Inserm Transfert Initiative is the new investment vehicle of INSERM in France.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Inserm Transfert Initiative. Shizune tracks 2 team members at Inserm Transfert Initiative. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/inserm-transfert-initiative?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $2.7M–$3.6M |
| Series A | $1.1M–$35M |
| Series B | $2.2M–$60M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 12 | 55% |
| Medical | 6 | 27% |
| Health Care | 6 | 27% |
| Therapeutics | 5 | 23% |
| Medical Device | 3 | 14% |

14 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 7 | 32% |
| Series B | 5 | 23% |
| Seed | 4 | 18% |
| Funding Round | 3 | 14% |
| Series C | 1 | 5% |

6 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| France | 12 | 55% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 9% |
| United States | 1 | 5% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jean-Michel Gauthier | CSO - Member of the Executive management Board (Directoire) | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jean-michel-gauthier |
| Chahra Louafi | VP, Supervisory Board | 5 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/chahra-louafi |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Step Pharma | Step Pharma is a spin-off of Imagine Institute stemming from Pr. Alain Fischer’s research on genetic immunodeficiencies. Step Pharma is a joint venture between Imagine, a research and innovative healthcare institute, Sygnature Discovery, a leading provider of integrated drug discovery resource and expertise, and Kurma Partners, a major player inthe funding of healthcare and biotechnology in Europe. | $44.3M | Series C | Oct 15, 2025 |  |
| VectivBio | VectivBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company bringing transformational medicines to patients with serious rare diseases. They are committed to pursuing rare diseases with well-defined biology that can be targeted with best-in-disease therapies that have the potential to meaningfully transform and improve the lives of patients and theirfamilies, not just provide an incremental improvement or benefit over the standard-of-care.It was founded as a spinout from Therachon, a biotechnology company acquired by Pfizer for its program in achondroplasia. VectivBio was incorporated in 2019 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. | $110M | Venture - Series Unknown | Oct 19, 2020 |  |
| Eyevensys | Eyevensys is a address critical unmet needs in ophthalmology by providing a much better way of delivering ophthalmic drugs that overcomes the limitations of current options, such as intravitreal injections, surgery, intravitreal implants and biodegradable formulations. All of these current options have their drawbacks, given they are invasiveprocedures. Eyevensys’ goal is not only to improve short and long term therapeutic outcomes, but also to enhance compliance, improve ocular bioavailability and tolerability.They plan to build a high value product pipeline by enabling sustained production of therapeutic proteins in the eye that will deliver improved clinical outcomes while reducing the burden of frequent intravitreal or systemic injections and other invasive procedures. | $30M | Series B | Jan 08, 2020 |  |
| VectivBio | VectivBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company bringing transformational medicines to patients with serious rare diseases. They are committed to pursuing rare diseases with well-defined biology that can be targeted with best-in-disease therapies that have the potential to meaningfully transform and improve the lives of patients and theirfamilies, not just provide an incremental improvement or benefit over the standard-of-care.It was founded as a spinout from Therachon, a biotechnology company acquired by Pfizer for its program in achondroplasia. VectivBio was incorporated in 2019 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. | $35M | Series A | Jan 08, 2020 |  |
| Aelis Farma | Aelis Farma is a pioneer in the development of signaling specific therapeutics that target GPCRs (and more specifically the CB1 receptor which is one of the most expressed GPCRs in the brain). GPCRs are the target of most therapeutic drugs. This family of receptors has the characteristics to activate several and often opposing signaling pathways.Unfortunately, most of the drugs acting on GPCRs either block or stimulate the entire signaling activity of the receptor resulting in unwanted and sometimes unacceptable side effects. | $12.1M |  | Dec 13, 2019 |  |
| Therachon | Therachon is a global biotechnology company focused on developing medicines for rare, genetic diseases that currently have no available treatments. The company’s lead pipeline candidate, TA-46, is a novel protein therapy in development for achondroplasia, the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. Therachon is headquartered in Basel,Switzerland, with research labs in Nice, France. | $60M | Series B | Aug 09, 2018 |  |
| BIOMODEX | BIOMODEX is an innovative medical technology company based in Paris and Boston using 3D printing to create tissue-like anatomical twins from medical images, for patient-specific rehearsal and advanced training. The anatomically accurate twin is designed to provide critical tactile feedback to users which, when paired with our simulated blood flowstations, offers a unique and tailored end to end physician experience. | $15M | Series A | Jun 08, 2018 |  |
| ENYO Pharma | ENYO Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company incorporated in Jan, 2014, by four scientists of the Infectiology Research Center in Lyon, France, and three seeding partners (2 privates and 1 public).The company is based in the Infectiology Center of Lyonbiopôle in Lyon, France and maintains tight collaborations with the seminal Inserm team and theBSL4 laboratory Inserm-Jean Mérieux.ENYO Pharma has licensed several Inserm patents issued from the discoveries of the founding scientists and developed a unique platform for the identification of intracellular therapeutic targets and molecules.The company is developing treatments against the most important viruses and is thriving to become a global leader in anti-virals. Research and Development is currently focused on human infecting viruses, with the first two programs being dedicated to the treatment of severe and seasonal flu and chronic hepatitis B. The company plans to conduct its molecules to Phase II clinical trials. | $42.4M | Series B | Jun 04, 2018 |  |
| Step Pharma | Step Pharma is a spin-off of Imagine Institute stemming from Pr. Alain Fischer’s research on genetic immunodeficiencies. Step Pharma is a joint venture between Imagine, a research and innovative healthcare institute, Sygnature Discovery, a leading provider of integrated drug discovery resource and expertise, and Kurma Partners, a major player inthe funding of healthcare and biotechnology in Europe. | $15.9M | Series A | Nov 21, 2017 |  |
| Therachon | Therachon is a global biotechnology company focused on developing medicines for rare, genetic diseases that currently have no available treatments. The company’s lead pipeline candidate, TA-46, is a novel protein therapy in development for achondroplasia, the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. Therachon is headquartered in Basel,Switzerland, with research labs in Nice, France. | $5M | Series A | Jan 06, 2017 |  |

10 of 22 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Bpifrance](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bpifrance) — VC Fund, 8 deals together
- [OrbiMed](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/orbimed-advisors) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Versant Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/versant-ventures) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Cowen Healthcare Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cowen-healthcare-investments) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Novo Holdings](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/novo-a-s) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Pontifax](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pontifax) — VC Fund, 3 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Inserm Transfert Initiative invest in?

Inserm Transfert Initiative invests primarily in Biotechnology, Medical and Health Care startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 22 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in France. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Inserm Transfert Initiative's check size?

Inserm Transfert Initiative typically joins rounds of $2.7M–$3.6M at Seed, $1.1M–$35M at Series A and $2.2M–$60M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Inserm Transfert Initiative participates in.

### How do I contact Inserm Transfert Initiative?

Public channels for Inserm Transfert Initiative include the website linked on this profile and Facebook. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Inserm Transfert Initiative?

The team at Inserm Transfert Initiative includes Jean-Michel Gauthier (CSO - Member of the Executive management Board (Directoire)) and Chahra Louafi (VP, Supervisory Board). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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