ZAGENO on Growth Trajectory - Startup Becoming #1 Online Marketplace for Life Science Research Products; Raises $8 Million

BOSTON, Mass., USA, and BERLIN, GERMANY, Oct. 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZAGENO Inc., announces successful Series A investment of $8 Million US Dollars led by Capnamic Ventures, with Grazia Equity, lead investor in the seed round, also investing. The investment will be used to fuel growth in the key markets USA and Europe, by ramping up sales, marketing, and technical integration teams.

ZAGENO Launching a New Era of Digital Science and Research

"Just two years old, we are experiencing enormous traction, where global leaders in life science research, such as The Babraham Institute, choose to purchase life science research products through us," said Co-Founder and CEO of ZAGENO David Pumberger. "There is a vast need for digitalization in science and research! We founded ZAGENO with the vision of connecting scientists, administrative departments, and vendors of biotechnology products via one single platform, thereby creating a WIN-WIN-WIN-Situation for everybody involved. Nobody has dared to do that so far," he continued.

What is the WIN-WIN-WIN-situation for scientists, academic research institutes, researching companies, and equipment vendors? For the first time, ZAGENO enables scientists in their laboratories to choose crucial products directly via an online marketplace, from an extensive and high-quality product portfolio. Currently, researchers from 250+ leading research institutions in the U.S. and Europe compare products every day on ZAGENO for their experiments and order directly from across 650+ different vendors. This newly unveiled transparency is an absolute novelty in the biotech industry and saves costs as well as time for researchers.

ZAGENO enables straightforward integration of ordering and purchasing processes into existing software systems. And it is a milestone in the direction of bundled, and therefore, more-efficient, operation flows for academic research institutes and research companies alike. Biotechnology vendors benefit from the ZAGENO online-platform by reaching potential customers right at the buying/decision-making moments. They can also leverage ZAGENO as an additional digital sales channel to increase their reach in the key markets - USA and Europe. Further, the ZAGENO online-platform represents a valuable marketing tool to strengthen brand awareness and foster brand image and thus helps industry players to adapt to existing e-commerce models by increased customer service and content quality.

Commenting on The Babraham Institute's experience with ZAGENO, Michael Norden, the Institute's head of purchasing, said, "ZAGENO enables our 200+ scientists to choose and order life science research products from all vendors using one platform. This further streamlines our purchasing processes and allows us to gain full transparency on our spending. Ultimately, scientists focus on their research while complying with all purchasing requirements. We have found ZAGENO's customer service to be outstanding."

"ZAGENO combines an exceptional team and is the first to unlock an untapped billion dollar U.S. market," said Capnamic Ventures General Partner Christian Siegele.

Founding Partner of Grazia Equity Alec Rauschenbusch commented, "ZAGENO is fantastic. It's a true game-changer, helping the life science industry become more successful."           

ZAGENO's Pumberger added, "Together with our partners and the Series A funding, we will strengthen our position at the interface of technology and biotech, as well as reach our targeted growth in focus markets. We feel very fortunate to grow together with Capnamic Ventures and Grazia Equity and to benefit from their deep industry connections and insights. Consistent with entrepreneurial values, mindsets, and growth targets, we focus on fulfilling customers' needs on all sides of the platform!"

About Capnamic Ventures

Capnamic Ventures (www.capnamic.com) is one of Europe's leading early-stage Venture Capital firms, with offices in Berlin and Cologne. The VC invests most of its funds in tech startups in the German-speaking region. Capnamic also joins forces with international co-investors. All portfolio companies are supported through Capnamic's global network of investors and industry partners.

The vast expertise of the Capnamic team includes more than 70 investments, a high turnover of successful trade sales and IPOs, as well as a strong entrepreneurial track record within the investment team. The general partners are Jörg Binnenbrücker (@bibrue), Olaf Jacobi (@olafjacobi) and Christian Siegele.

For more details, visit capnamic.com or @Capnamic on Twitter.

About Grazia Equity

Grazia Equity, one of Germany's top venture capital firms, has been supporting a large number of mostly young companies, often from their foundation to the Initial Public Offering or eventual sale. Grazia's success derives from a partnership with extraordinarily strong entrepreneurial teams to turn them into international market leaders. In contrast to other venture capital firms Grazia has a solid permanent capital structure ("Evergreen"). Grazia's portfolio companies profit from the entrepreneurial background and the business development expertise of its partner team as well as a far-reaching international network. Being active in Germany, Europe and in the USA Grazia has invested early in category leaders such as Statista, Mister Spex, Conergy, Quantenna, and Yeay.

For more information, please visit grazia.com

About ZAGENO Inc.

Since its formation in 2015, ZAGENO Inc. sets new standards in the international biotech market. With the vision to offer an online marketplace connecting scientists, academic research institutes, and biotech manufacturers, ZAGENO grows exponentially and represents a milestone for the digitization of science and research. World-renowned research facilities use ZAGENO for ordering lab equipment and for optimizing internal processes. The start-up employs 35 staff members in Boston (USA) and Berlin (Germany). These two locations were selected to be close to centers known for research advancements and scientific breakthroughs. For more "EUREKA"-moments - welcome to ZAGENO: https://zageno.com/

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8f25a44f-43ac-4555-89c9-88e214485457

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4121b588-dce2-4b4c-81f5-1375ea13b05b

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b62c1ccf-4885-4563-813c-5f4596194fd2

Media Contact: Caroline Grossman
(781) 771-5579
Caroline@Mirepoixllc.com

Company Contact: Florian Wegener, MD, PhD, MBA, Chief Revenue Officer
ZAGENO Inc.
pr@zageno.com