Stoic Venture Capital and Uniseed have increased their investment in Kinoxis Therapeutics Pty Ltd, an Australian start-up which is developing a revolutionary drug treatment for addiction.
Recent television series Addicted Australia revealed Australia's critical problem with addiction and substance abuse.
Stoic Venture Capital is the Co-Investment Fund of Uniseed, a commercialisation fund which focuses on financing early-stage companies that emerge from Uniseed's member universities.
Stoic Venture Capital has invested over half of its portfolio towards healthcare, making up 9 of its 17 investee companies since establishing three years ago.
Stoic Venture Capital Partner Dr Geoff Waring said their venture capital fund was committed to financing Australian start-ups in healthcare and disease prevention.
"Companies such as Kinoxis are developing treatments for some of our community's most challenging health problems," Dr Waring said.
"These companies license their technology from the basic research done at universities.
"Many of these start-ups are undertaking clinical trials for the eventual marketing of drugs or medical devices that our communities struggle with, such as Covid, cancer, addiction and diabetes."
"Stoic Venture Capital is committed to financing translational medical research. We want to continue to encourage medical researchers to go beyond publishing their research."
Dr Waring said substance abuse disorders including alcoholism, smoking and illicit drugs have devastating consequences for people and their loved ones and cost the Australia economy around $55 billion a year.
"The most effective current treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction is psychotherapy, which does not address the underlying social and physiological problems which cause addiction," he said.
"Kinoxis is developing a unique drug that specifically acts on the brain to reduce cravings and improve mood."
Nine out of 17 companies in Stoic Venture Capital are developing new drugs, medical devices or diagnostics. Stoic Venture Capital's relationship with university-focused investment fund,
Uniseed gives investors access to some of the richest opportunities from Australia's top universities.
Stoic Venture Capital and Uniseed's portfolio includes the following health investments:
• Cardihab (Digital cardiac rehab);
• Ena Therapeutics (Enhancing immunity to fight respiratory diseases);
• Certa Therapeutics (Drug for treating kidney disease);
• Kinoxis (Addiction rehabilitation);
• Occurx (Drug to treat eye damage from diabetes);
• Que Oncology (Breast cancer treatment side effects);
• Ferronova (Magnetic nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis); and
• Q-Sera (Blood collection).
About Stoic Venture Capital
Stoic Venture Capital provides financing for early-stage companies, particularly those arising from university research. We are unconditionally registered as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP). We take a collaborative approach to investing in the highest potential companies.
