France: Treefrog Therapeutics secures €30 million from EIB marking a significant milestone in the company’s journey to accelerate the field of cell therapy

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• €30 million financing with mix of dilutive and venture debt financing
• Funds to advance Parkinson’s disease cell therapy program to the clinic and further develop their internal pipeline of cell therapies
• Deal benefits from guarantee under European Commission’s Invest EU program

TreeFrog Therapeutics, a French biotech specializing in cell therapy has secured a €30 million financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The financing will support the advancement of their lead cell therapy program in Parkinson’s Disease to the clinic. Funds will also be used to reinforce their internal pipeline in other disease areas with large unmet needs.

Regenerative medicine holds immense potential to revolutionize healthcare to treat or cure some of the world’s unmet needs in diseases of the major organs, such as the heart, lungs, pancreas and brain. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and the fastest growing with more than 10 million people worldwide suffering from the disease. Prevalence doubled in the last 25 years and is expected to double again before 2050. Current solutions treat symptoms only. The cell therapy in development at TreeFrog has the potential to be a best-in-class treatment due to its unique 3D format microtissues, developed from induced pluripotent cells (iPSC). The program is on track to be ready for a first-in-human trial in 2027. 

The €30 million financing will be available in 3 tranches of €10 million each, with TreeFrog benefiting from a new vehicle from the EIB, mixing dilutive financing, hence no principal repayment required for the initial two tranches and venture debt for the last tranche. The initial €10 million will be withdrawn during the second quarter of 2025. EIB’s investment aligns with the InvestEU objective of fostering research, development and innovation.

Ambroise Fayolle, vice-president of the EIB, said: “Regenerative medicine is a field that has growing importance as life expectancy rises and some diseases are still untreated. This EIB is keen to support young, dynamic European and French companies that focus on research, development and product innovation. Support from InvestEU is testimony of a wider European interest in TreeFrog’s business model and new solutions for the health sector”.

Jaime Arango, Chief Finance Officer, TreeFrog Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted to receive this support from EIB which bolsters our cash visibility trajectory and enables us to bring our Parkinson’s cell therapy to the clinic, while also reinforcing our internal pipeline of cell therapies in other disease areas.”

TreeFrog’s success in attracting investment and partners to date is based on their proprietary technology platform, C-Stem™. This platform addresses some of the major challenges by producing high quality cells, efficiently, at commercial scale. C-Stem combines microfluidics and stem cell biology to mimic the natural environment for cells. The cells are encapsulated in alginate capsules seeded with iPSCs. These capsules protect the cells, allowing them to do what they do naturally – self-organise and grow. The protected cells are nurtured and nourished, expand exponentially and can be turned into any type of cell in large-scale bioreactors without damage and stress. This results in 3D microtissues that have unique benefits in terms of quality and functionality and integrate well after transplant.

Background information

About EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB), whose shareholders are the Member States of the European Union (EU), is the EU’s long-term financing institution. Across eight major priorities, we support investments in climate action and the environment, digital transition and technological innovation, security and defense, cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world. In 2024, the EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing in support of more than 900 projects in Europe and worldwide. In France, the EIB Group signed over a hundred operations in 2024 for a total amount of €12.6 billion. Nearly 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as the creation of a healthier environment.

About TreeFrog Therapeutics

TreeFrog Therapeutics is a French-based regenerative medicine biotech set to unlock access to cell therapies for millions of patients. TreeFrog is unique in its approach to cell therapy development, bringing together biophysicists, cell biologists and bioproduction engineers to address the challenges of the industry – producing and differentiating cells of quality at unprecedented scale, cost-effectively. To succeed in their mission of Cell Therapy for all, TreeFrog operates a business model that includes its own therapeutic programs and partnerships with leading biotech and industry players. Since 2021, the company has raised $82 million to advance a pipeline of stem cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine.