Coreo AG — M&A Activity 2009

Oct 28, 2009

News Details

Corporate | 28 October 2009 07:45

Nanostart increases its investment in promising portfolio company Curiox

Nanostart AG / Miscellaneous

28.10.2009

Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by
DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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• Nanostart increases stake in promising Singaporean start-up to almost 19%
• Expansion in USA and Europe
• New contracts with corporate groups to be signed soon
• Recognized co-investors

Frankfurt am Main / Singapore - 28. October, 2009 - Nanostart has increased
its stake in Curiox Biosystems Pte Ltd, Singapore, to almost 19% by a
follow-up investment through its Nanostart Singapore Early Stage Venture
Fund I.

The investment is part of a second financing round, in which several
experienced life science investors as well as a corporate investor joined
as new investors in Curiox. Nanostart remains the lead investor. This is
also the first investment of Nanostart's recently closed Nanostart
Singapore Early Stage Venture Fund.

The funds shall help Curiox to tackle the therapeutics screening market for
pharmaceutical and biotech firms. Having successfully established its
semi-automated product, the DropArray(TM) LT, with numerous customers from
universities and government research laboratories in Singapore, the company
now aims to introduce this new product line to the market and also to
expand internationally, in particular to the USA and Europe. The
DropArray(TM) HT targets primarily big pharma and biotech companies and
major research labs which require a significant level of automation,
whereas the DropArray(TM) LT serves as a semi-automated solution for
smaller research labs.

Referring to the expansion plans, Namyong Kim, CEO of Curiox, says: 'We are
happy about the continuing support from our existing investors and the
expanded investors base. We will use the funds to expand our product line
and gain the first customers overseas. We expect to close deals with major
customers very soon.'

Andreas Kröll, Managing Director of Nanostart Asia and Nanostart's
representative on Curiox' board, comments: 'The strong investor interest
underlines the huge potential of the company's products. After the
financing, we will hold almost 19% in the company, which represents a great
asset for Nanostart AG and its shareholders'

About Curiox Biosystems Pte Ltd:
Curiox Biosystems has a vision to accelerate the progress of life sciences
and drug discovery through better miniaturization. Curiox is a
bioinstrumentation company enabling the miniaturization of heterogeneous
bioassay for researchers working in life sciences, drug discovery, and
diagnostics. Curiox's patented miniaturization platform, DropArray(TM),
provides up to 1,000 times savings in sample and reagent consumption, and
up to 10 times reduction in assay time. The company is located in
Singapore, the biomedical hub of Southeast Asia. The company is a spin-off
from Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) backed primarily
by Nanostart and Exploit Technologies, the commercializing arm of
Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). For
further information, please visit www.curiox.com.

About Nanostart:
Nanostart AG is the world's leading nanotechnology investment company. The
Frankfurt-based company provides venture capital financing for
nanotechnology companies in various growth phases. It also provides the
benefits of its experience and expertise to developers of financial
instruments and to investors in the nanotechnology sector. For further
information about the company, please visit www.nanostart.de.

Disclaimer:
This notice constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of
offers to purchase or subscribe to securities. There will be no public
offering of securities of Nanostart AG in conjunction with the existing
listing of its shares in the 'Entry Standard' segment of the regulated
unofficial market (Freiverkehr) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This
notice does not constitute a securities prospectus. Neither this notice nor
the information contained within is intended for direct or indirect
distribution within the United States of America, Canada, Australia or
Japan.

Media contact:
Nanostart AG
Public Relations
Dr. Hans Joachim Dürr
Goethestrasse 26-28
D-60313 Frankfurt
Germany
phone: +49 (0)69-21 93 96 111
fax: +49 (0)69-21 93 96 122
e-mail: presse@nanostart.de

28.10.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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