Prokarium Announces $30 Million Financing to Deliver Lead Program into Clinic and Build Novel Therapeutic Platform
9.2.2023 15:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Prokarium, a biopharmaceutical company leading the oncology field of microbial immunotherapy, has raised $30 million in new funding. This follows Prokarium’s announcement of partnering with Ginkgo Bioworks to leverage its world-class Foundry and extensive Codebase to develop a bactofection platform technology.
“We are excited to advance our vision to create living cures,” said Kristen Albright, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer of Prokarium. “Proceeds of this financing will fund our lead oncology program entering clinical development this year and enable platform expansion for the delivery of novel therapeutic payloads, including RNA, via our proprietary bacteria. With Ginkgo’s partnership and their expertise in strain engineering and optimization we look forward to working towards unlocking a new generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics.”
Prokarium’s lead program has the potential to transform the treatment paradigm in bladder cancer, one of the costliest cancers to treat, in its efforts to become the new standard-of-care in a market that has seen little innovation in over 30 years and to offer advanced therapies an alternative to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). Prokarium’s pipeline leverages evolutionary advantages of a proprietary strain of Salmonella and combines them with bespoke synthetic circuits to deliver diverse therapeutic cargo for difficult-to-treat cancers.
“We believe Prokarium is a truly differentiated company,” added Thomas Eldered, Executive Chairman, Flerie Invest. “The new funds and Prokarium’s partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks will accelerate the cutting-edge innovation essential to lead the advancements in the field of synthetic biology and immunotherapy for years to come.”
“Our partnership with Prokarium will utilize Ginkgo’s leading platform capabilities and services to pioneer technological developments that we believe will revolutionize the immuno-oncology field,” added Ena Cratsenburg, Chief Business Officer at Ginkgo Bioworks. “Ginkgo is excited to partner with Prokarium to work to build a versatile Salmonella-based bactofection platform capable of delivering targeted, localized RNA therapeutics.”
In addition to the financing, Prokarium has announced the addition of two scientific advisors, Professor Adrian Hayday, PhD and Sam Chang, MD, MBA. “We are thrilled to welcome Adrian and Sam as advisors as we transition into a clinical-stage company,” concluded Albright. “Adrian brings the deep immunology and immunotherapy expertise, and Sam possesses invaluable clinical experience being involved in numerous bladder cancer clinical trials.” Professor Hayday is the founding Chair of Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology at King’s College London and is currently Principal Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. Sam currently serves as the Chief Surgical Officer at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.
About Prokarium
Prokarium is a biopharmaceutical company leading the oncology field of microbial immunotherapy with the vision to create living cures. The Company’s pipeline is designed to unlock a new generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics by re-engineering evolution into a synthetic biology platform. Prokarium’s lead program is focused on transforming the treatment paradigm in bladder cancer by orchestrating immune-driven, long-lasting antitumor effects. Prokarium is based in London, UK. For further information, visit www.prokarium.com.
About Flerie Invest
Flerie Invest is an active long-term global biotech and pharma investor based in Stockholm and London managing a portfolio of over 30 companies in Europe, Israel and the US. The focus is on enabling pioneering organisations operating in the drug development and services space to succeed by providing them with resources and expertise. The portfolio includes a wide range of areas including immuno- oncology, metabolic diseases and biologics development and manufacturing organisations which have the potential to make a significant impact in health and wellbeing. Flerie Invest was founded in 2011 by Thomas Eldered, who also co-founded and built Recipharm to be one of the world’s top five pharmaceutical contract manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.flerie.com.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo’s biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230209005006/en/
Contact information
PROKARIUM CONTACT:
Lisa Stone
lisa.stone@prokarium.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Blind Sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto Redefines the Limits of Possibility Through Technology in a Historic Trans-Pacific Project3.2.2026 05:00:00 EET | Press release
Mitsuhiro Iwamoto, a Japanese sailor based in San Diego, who is taking on the world’s first solo, non-stop trans-Pacific crossing by a blind sailor as part of the Blind Sailor Single-Handed Pacific Crossing Project 2027, held a press conference on January 28 (local time) in San Diego, USA. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260128531637/en/ Hiro Iwamoto / Global Keynote Speaker, First Totally Blind Sailor to Cross the Pacific Project URL: https://hiros-choice.com/ On January 22 (local time), Iwamoto delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 (WEF) under the theme “Sailing Through Barriers.” Speaking about the upcoming voyage, he said, “Boundaries are not decided by others. They are transcended by choice.” WEF URL: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2026/sessions/sailing-through-barriers/ During the press conference, he explained that all navigational infor
TestMu AI (Formerly LambdaTest) Recognized in Independent Research on Autonomous Testing Platforms, Q4 20252.2.2026 19:24:00 EET | Press release
TestMu AI (formerly known as LambdaTest), the world’s first full-stack Agentic Quality Engineering platform, today announced its inclusion in The Forrester Wave™: Autonomous Testing Platforms, Q4 2025, an independent research report evaluating vendors in the autonomous testing market. The report identifies TestMu AI as a cloud-based platform for unified test orchestration and execution. It notes the platform's capabilities in cross-browser testing, real device cloud, and AI-driven automation. Specifically, the research cites TestMu AI’s testing of AI systems across dimensions, providing metrics for accuracy, intent recognition, and hallucination detection with configurable thresholds. Additionally, the report recognizes TestMu AI’s AI-powered test data generation, citing its support for Large Language Models (LLMs), multimodal inputs, and compliance-aligned workflows. The report also noted the company's strong community strategy and customers praise its responsive customer support, whi
Current Chemicals Launches as Independent Specialty Materials Manufacturer, Building on 75-Year GE Legacy with Backing from Momentum Global Ventures2.2.2026 18:04:00 EET | Press release
Today marks the debut of Current Chemicals, Inc. (CCI) as a fully independent U.S.-based specialty materials manufacturer. Backed by strategic investor Momentum Global Ventures, CCI is charting a bold new path as a trusted partner for materials innovation, custom chemistry, and U.S.-based downstream manufacturing of rare earths and critical materials. The partnership between U.S.-based CCI and Netherlands-based Momentum Global Ventures reflects a strengthening transatlantic alliance at a pivotal moment for global supply chains. This partnership underscores a shared commitment to secure, reliable, and innovation-driven materials infrastructure. Originally the chemical division of GE Lighting, the team behind CCI has served as the quiet force behind groundbreaking technologies for more than 75 years, developing processes and manufacturing advanced materials for displays, lighting, energy storage, and more. As an independent company, CCI is poised to expand its impact across industries de
Laserfiche’s Taylor Grosso Honored as 2026 CRN® Channel Chief2.2.2026 17:00:00 EET | Press release
Laserfiche — the leading SaaS provider of intelligent content management — announced today that CRN® — a brand of The Channel Company — has selected Taylor Grosso, senior director, channel, Americas, as a 2026 CRN® Channel Chief. This annual recognition celebrates IT vendor and distribution executives who are shaping channel strategy and driving innovation and partnership across the industry. Grosso oversees Laserfiche’s Americas channel sales team, including the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, focusing on empowering Laserfiche Solution Providers to stay competitive as the market evolves. As more organizations seek out AI-powered tools to enhance productivity, Grosso prepares partners with the resources they need to quickly learn and sell Laserfiche’s industry-leading AI-powered document management solutions. By working closely with partners on building targeted business plans, Grosso and his team enable faster customer adoption of AI while driving revenue growth. “Over the past year,
Conga Completes Acquisition of PROS B2B Business2.2.2026 16:55:00 EET | Press release
Conga, a leader for AI-powered innovation in configure, price, quote (CPQ), contract lifecycle management (CLM), and document automation, today announced it has completed the acquisition of the B2B business of PROS Holdings, Inc (“PROS”) from certain investment funds affiliated with Thoma Bravo, the world’s largest software-focused investment firm. This transaction unites two industry leaders to help enterprises maximize revenue, reduce risk, and improve profitability. By bringing together AI-driven pricing optimization, configuration, quoting, and contracting capabilities, the combined company creates a differentiated enterprise platform that connects the commerce chain and enables end-to-end revenue orchestration from price to signature. The expanded Conga leadership team will continue to be led by CEO Dave Osborne. “To operate as connected, intelligent businesses, enterprises need a commerce chain that keeps everyone moving in the same direction,” said Osborne. “By bringing Conga an
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom