Cologne, 8 March 2023 –Ningaloo today announced that the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Change (BMWK) will provide substantial funding for a collaboration with the research group of Prof. Dagmar Wachten from the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn for the next 3 years.

“Not only does this funding confirm that our approach of using optogenetic and electronic tools to break completely new ground in the production of NextGen biotherapeutics is perceived as promising. It also provides the basis to rapidly bring both our cell biological and device-based solutions to production readiness and then to market,” said Dr. Hanns-Martin Schmidt, co-founder of Ningaloo Biosystems and responsible R&D project leader.

“We think that the combination of our targeted bio-digital approach to cell culture control, coupled with the ever-growing possibilities of artificial intelligence, will in turn enable cybernetic control loops that will allow more complex biotherapeutics such as gene therapy vectors or multispecific antibodies to be produced in profitable quantities”, the molecular biologist elaborated.

“I am really happy that the funding agencies see the potential of our collaboration and I am looking forward to this new endeavor“, says Prof. Dr. Dagmar Wachten.

“Beyond developing first solutions for biopharmaceutical process development, our vision of multi-channel controlled bioproduction is to enable all phases of upscaling in real-time controlled bioproduction,” added Dr. Herbert Müller-Hartmann, co-founder of Ningaloo GmbH.

Within the ZIM cooperation project titled “BIO-DIGIS”, R&D activities to develop optogenetic process control systems for biopharmaceutical production are funded at Ningaloo Biosystems and the University of Bonn.

Cologne, 15 November 2022 – Ningaloo co-founders Hanns-Martin Schmidt and Herbert Müller-Hartmann today expressed their delight to welcome two new colleagues to the Ningaloo Biosystems team.

“With our new teammates, the skilled molecular biologist Dr. Elisa Ciglieri and the microsystems engineer Irshath Ali Syed, we will be able to continue our pioneering work to establish optogenetic solutions in the bioprocessing world at a significantly increased pace,” said Dr. Hanns-Martin Schmidt.

“We are thus taking a decisive step towards helping to bring complex biopharmaceuticals to life,” added Dr. Herbert Müller-Hartmann.

Cologne, 19 September 2022 – A group of key players in the Cologne ecosystem nominated outstanding start-ups for the “Cologne Masterclass” that have previously gone through one of the partners’ many programs and competitions – among them Ningaloo Biosystems. Thus, the “Cologne Masterclass” is first and foremost a special award for the start-up teams from the Cologne business region.

“With the Cologne Masterclass, we want to establish a flagship for the start-up scene in Cologne,” said Dr. Frank Obermaier, Head of Business Development at KölnBusiness.

As part of the Masterclass, start-ups are supported by coaches and prepared for a Matching Day on October 27, 2022. Here, the selected start-ups will have the chance to present their idea to top-class investors.

https://koeln.business/magazinbeitrag/das-sind-die-15-startups-der-cologne-masterclass-2022

Cologne, 22 June 2022 – Ningaloo Biosystems, a German biotech startup dedicated to the development of new solutions for the production of next-generation biopharmaceuticals, has announced the successful closing of a pre-seed funding round.

“Manyfold discussions with external partners have solidified the urgency of improving the production of biopharmaceuticals. The now successfully completed funding round not only confirms the need for more efficient and controllable bioproduction for future generations of drugs, but also the transformative potential of Opto-Bioproduction to address this unmet need,” said co-founder Herbert Mueller-Hartmann.

“Our groundbreaking concept of controlling the production processes of life-saving drugs with light not only convinced the first scientific partners, but also a dedicated team of business angels and NRW.Bank, who are supporting us in our venture.”

Co-founder Hanns-Martin Schmidt continues “We founded this company when we realized that only a paradigm shift towards digital control of living cells can put the biopharmaceutical industry on the path to the long-awaited Industry 4.0 standards.

The next steps on our journey are addressing additional solid proof-of-principle projects and the further development of a complete solution for the next chapter of bioproduction. With this we aim to help process developers and biopharmaceutical manufacturers achieve outstanding results with next-generation biopharmaceuticals that could previously not be produced economically.”

“With the opportunities presented by this latest investment, we are very confident that we can make the dream of cyberbiological manufacturing a reality – for the benefit of millions of patients waiting for life-saving therapies,” adds Mueller-Hartmann.

Berlin, 25 May 2022 –Today, Ningaloo Biosystems was awarded participation in the German Accelerator’s Kickstart International Colloquium. The program gives German startups a head start on their path to internationalization by equipping them with the necessary skills and tools to develop their readiness for global expansion.

“We are very pleased that the German Accelerator has recognized the potential of our approach to innovative biopharmaceutical manufacturing and is providing us with this great opportunity to prepare for international presence and expansion,” said co-founder Dr. Herbert Müller-Hartmann.

The Kickstart International program, which will take place in June 2022, represents a hybrid format with more than 10 international speakers, 1-to-1 mentor meetings, and sessions with more than 6 experts from Germany, Asia, and the US.

Cologne, 26 November 2021 – As one of the 60 finally selected start-up companies at the TechTour Photonics Programme 2021, Ningaloo Biosystems presented their award-winning business approach using biophotonics to create cyber-biological production systems for the biopharmaceutical industry on 17 November. The Expert Jury of VC and Corporate investors, as well as Investment Intermediaries in the field, drew Ningaloo Biosystems as one of the 16 winners across different industry segments.

“It’s a great honor to get this recognition and award on an international level. TechTour is a great community platform connecting tech entrepreneurs with investors, experts, coaches, and regions to realize their bold ambition and build successful partnerships”, said co-founder Dr. Herbert Mueller-Hartmann. As a winner Ningaloo Biosystems will get the chance to participate at the Future22 World Tour, where all winners of different TechTour Programmes will be invited to additional online sessions with a great number of investors and guests from Europe, the United States, Eastern Asia, Middle East and Western Africa.

Cologne, 01 October 2021 – Dr. Herbert Müller-Hartmann, co-founder of Ningaloo Biosystems GmbH presenting the company´s revolutionary bioproduction concept & answering questions at “Bioprocessing and future trends in Biosensors”, a virtual event hosted by SilverSky LifeSciences.

Cologne, 01 Sepember 2021 – Ningaloo Biosystems has produced a new video where besides pitching to potential investors,  Hanns-Martin & Herbert also talk  a little about themselves, their motivation and favorite pastimes. Have fun!

Cologne, 08 August 2021 – Among 35 competitors, Ningaloo Biosystems has been chosen as one the top ten teams in the first round of  the start-up competition “Gründerpreis 2021″of business juniors cologn (Wirtschaftsjunioren Köln).

Frankfurt, 30 April 2021 – Ningaloo Biosystems will present ist virtual booth on the TechFAIR from 10th-16th of May 2021. Launched by the well-known independent start-up initiative Science4Life, TechFair will present innovative startups from the fields of life sciences, chemistry and energy.

In addition to relevant information about the business, there is also the opportunity to get in direct contact with the founders – either via chat or video call.

Aachen, 30 November 2020 – We are proud to announce that Ningaloo Biosystems has been selected to take part in the 2021 Incubation Program Batch #2 offered at the RWTH Aachen University (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen), starting January 2021.  Amongst others, the program offers exclusive workshops, trainings and expert mentoring, as well as access to co-working spaces and to a profound cross-university co-founder network.

„Given these excellent opportunities, we will surely be able to accelerate our efforts in both product development and getting investor-ready“, said co-founder and CSO/CTO Dr. Hanns-Martin Schmidt.

Cologne, 29 September 2020 – The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) has just confirmed that Ningaloo Biosystems GmbH is eligible for the federal ministry’s BMWi Directive INVEST directive defining benefits for venture capital investors.

“This provides the basis for a direct grants and tax benefits for venture capital investors who wish to become stakeholders of our company. This will enable us to further increase the attractiveness of an investment in our company at an early stage,” says co-founder and managing director Dr. Müller-Hartmann.

Cologne, 08 September 2020 – Ningaloo Biosystems has finished in the top eight teams in the start-up competition of the industry association BioRiver – Life Science in Rheinland e.V.

The BioRiver Boost! stands out as a competition for Life Science founders not least through its high-caliber jury of experts from leading organizations from the Rhineland and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is now being held for the seventh time.

This year, the jury includes representatives from leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer, Eppendorf, Lonza, Miltenyi Biotec, Qiagen and UCB Pharmawelt, one incubator of scientific ideas, Lead Discovery Center Dortmund, as well as early-stage investors such as the High-Tech Founder Funds and the NRW. BANK.

Cologne, 06 August 2020 –Since August this year, Ningaloo Biosystems’ activities in the development of patents have been granted financial support by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) through the WIPANO funding program.

“We are very pleased about this support in our continuous efforts to secure the sustainable economic exploitation of our innovations in the field of opto-electronic devices as well as optogenetic methods and systems by the international filing of intellectual property right applications”, said Dr Herbert Mueller-Hartmann and Dr Hanns-Martin Schmidt, the two founders of the company.

Cologne, 06 May 2020 – At an exciting night with eight teams giving their pitch talk and about 250 guest watching the event online, at about 8 pm it was finally time to celebrate: Ningaloo Biosystems came in third! Given the 43 applications in the 24. NUK Business Plan competition, Ningaloo thus scored in the top 10%.

In their recognition the jury of wrote: “We could review an excellent business plan written by a distinguished team of founders, which stands out with his great qualification and longstanding professional experience. The team’s exceptional know-how is complemented by very good partnerships for the new company to be founded. The founding team has highlighted promising approaches, which now have to be proven with concrete collaboration partners and pilot applications. We wish them all the best!”.

We just started & already won a price! WOW! A big “THANK YOU” to all our many supporters!

Cologne, 09 Apr 2020 – Our first participation in a business plan competition is a big success in our eyes: After two rounds of evaluation by several business experts, the startup network and support organization NUK (Neues Unternehmertum Koeln) has nominated us among the best 8 (of 43) teams for the grand finale on May 6th 2020, 7 pm German time.

Due the Coronavirus pandemic, this event takes place in an online format, giving you the possibility to register and join online – and to vote for us for the Audience Award!

We are thrilled about the opportunity to present our business concept to a wider public, and wish the other contestants and their exciting business ideas all the best!