OCCIDENT

Science spin-offs are the specialty of OCCIDENT, a venture capital investor that calls itself The Science Investor. According to its German-language site, it puts money into deep-tech startups, especially those emerging from academic and scientific research, and it supports them from the seed round onward.

Investing its own money

The firm says it invests its own capital, brings a strongly entrepreneurial way of thinking, and weighs the long-term potential of a venture before deciding. It describes its role as that of an enabler: its motivation is to make visions possible and to help founders achieve something outstanding. The founders of its portfolio companies, it says, share a wish to inspire others and to do something positive for society. It also says working with those teams, with their passion and energy, motivates it every day.

Life sciences and a Munich base

The company has an office in Munich, where a life sciences analyst with a medical education supports analysis and due diligence of new investments. Medical and biotechnology topics run through the firm's news.

Companies it has backed

Resistell is a medical technology company that uses phenotypic nanomotion technology to measure living cells in order to tackle antibiotic resistance. OCCIDENT has invested since the seed round and joined the first tranche of the company's Series B, alongside other institutional and private investors, to fund the completion of clinical studies for antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Tubulis, working on antibody-drug conjugates for cancer, raised a large Series C round led by a healthcare-focused investor, with OCCIDENT taking part. A later announcement on the site says Gilead has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the company, which the firm calls an outstanding exit. More recently it joined a pre-seed round of Immitra Bio.

Scholarships in Asia

Outside its investing, the firm has for several years paid for higher education scholarships for underprivileged young people across Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh, delivered through a partner organisation. Its older text reports dozens of completed higher education places in law, medicine, nursing, accounting and farming, with plans to include Kenya.

Facing change

In a year-end note the firm wrote that change creates chances, and that both venture investors and founders are used to adjusting to uncertainty.

OCCIDENT is a venture capital investor that describes its role as enabling founders whose companies inspire others and benefit society. It has an office in München and publishes its updates in its own language.

What OCCIDENT offers

• Venture capital: invests in start-ups run by founders it considers visionary, including follow-on rounds in companies it already backs.
• Life sciences analysis: has an investment analyst in München with a medical background who supports due diligence on new opportunities.
• Education scholarships: funds higher education for disadvantaged young people in Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh, run with a partner charity and planned to extend to Kenya.

Customers and markets

Founders of early-stage companies, with a stated interest in topics that improve people's lives. Its portfolio includes Resistell, which it backed from the seed stage and again in a later round.

Key facts

• Office: München, Germany
• Scholarship record: 33 higher-education courses completed over eight years, with more planned
• Focus areas: Life sciences and other technology start-ups