Sheffield, UK, 20 May 2019: Rinri Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a novel cellbased therapy to restore hearing, announced today that it successfully secured £1.4 million in seed funding. The financing, which was co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and UCB Ventures and joined by BioCity, will support the ongoing growth of the company. In connection with the financing, Detlev Mennerich, PhD, Investment Director at Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund; Erica Whittaker, PhD, Head of UCB Ventures; and Claire Brown, PhD, Investment Director at BioCity have
joined Rinri’s Board of Directors.
Rinri, a spin out of Sheffield University, is based on the pioneering work of Professor Marcelo Rivolta (Chen et al. (2012) Nature, 490: 278-84), a recognised world leader in the field of sensory stem cell biology. Rinri’s underlying technology, based on innovative stem cell research, seeks to reverseneuropathic sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) through the repair of the damaged cytoarchitecture inthe inner ear. SNHL happens when there is damage to the hair cells in the cochlear and/or the auditorynerve. There are currently no pharmacological treatments available for SNHL despite the rapidincrease in the number of patients that suffer from this condition globally.
In parallel with the financing, Rinri has appointed Dr Simon Chandler as CEO. Dr Chandler has a PhD in
Molecular Biology, and following commercial roles in the biotechnology industry, spent the past four
years at IP Group, where he was responsible for early stage investments and company-building for UK
university life science spinouts.