Redmond, WA (April 7, 2022) – Inventprise, a biotechnology company specializing in novel, affordable and highly impactful vaccines, announced today that it has received $30 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund, representing the first tranche of up to $90 million in financing secured late last year.

This funding will assist Inventprise to achieve near-term organizational objectives, including expansion of a highly skilled workforce, certification of manufacturing facilities and a clinical regulatory submission to Health Canada for Inventprise’s investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) IVT-PCV25, with technical support from non-profit organization PATH. The high valent vaccine utilizes a proprietary platform to protect against some of the deadliest and emerging strains of pneumococcal disease seen globally especially in vulnerable pediatric populations, many who reside in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the introduction of PCV vaccines in many countries worldwide, pneumococcal pneumonia remains the leading cause of death globally, killing nearly 400,000 children under five years of age each year. Higher valency vaccines are needed to address the remaining burden of disease caused by pneumococcal serotypes that are not included in existing licensed vaccines.

Inventprise also announced today that they are appointing Yves Leurquin as CEO and elevating Subhash Kapre to Executive Chairman. Further, Inventprise expanded its corporate board with the addition of former biotechnology CEOs Stewart Parker and Donna Ambrosino, in addition to existing members Yves Leurquin, Ralf Clemens, Principal and Founder at GRID Europe Consulting and Niranjan Bose, Managing Director, Health & Life Sciences at Gates Ventures and Andrew Farnum, Chief Executive Officer at Variant Bio. Subhash Kapre, Executive Chairman of Inventprise, said “I am delighted we have assembled such a great team of experts; they share our bold and global vision for the company. Their strong commitment, deep understanding of life science technology development and clinical trials, will support our aim to advance Inventprise’s novel vaccine and help position Inventprise to continue its strong organic growth.”