1. PRESS RELEASE
Paris, October 24th
2016
Kurma Partners and Idinvest Partners launches Dynacure
a new company specialized in rare neuromuscular diseases
Kurma announced on Monday the 24th
of October 2016, that they have entered into a
collaboration agreement with Conectus and Ionis Pharmaceutical to launch Dynacure, a
Strasbourg-based biotech specializing in the treatment of rare neuromuscular disorders.
Dynacure is a spin-off from the IGBMC (Institute of Genetic and Molecular and Cellular
Biology – Unistra/INSERM/CNRS) of Strasbourg.
“The creation of Dynacure is a major step in the transformation of the disruptive discovery
made by Dr. Jocelyn Laporte and his team into new potential treatments for patients affected
by serious orphan muscle diseases” said Rémi Droller, Managing Partner at Kurma. “The
creation of Dynacure is another validation of the know-how of Kurma Partners in
implementing its acceleration model. Dynacure is the successful result of more than 2 years
of a fruitful collaboration between Kurma Partners, Satt Conectus and IGBMC and Ionis”.
In its first drug discovery program, Dynacure is partnering with Ionis to use Ionis’ innovative
antisense platform to develop a new therapeutic approach for treating rare myopathies
linked to a target identified by the academic group of Jocelyn Laporte at the IGBMC.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Dynacure on developing a potential new drug for
patients with myopathies,” said Mr. Brett Monia, senior vice president, antisense drug
discovery at Ionis Pharmaceuticals. “Ionis’ antisense technology provides a unique
therapeutic approach for addressing targets that are often not amenable to conventional
drug platforms like small molecule or biologics. We think our antisense technology may be
uniquely suited to address the target identified by Dr. Laporte’s group.”
“Conectus is delighted to be a part of this highly promising start-up” said Mr. Nicolas
Carboni, Chairman & CEO of Conectus. “Dynacure demonstrates the powerful leverage
created by Conectus’ Proof of Concept investment, which allow the company, at its
inception, to close a series A and enter into a partnership with a world leading
biopharmaceutical. This project also illustrates the value created by the close relationships
between Kurma Partners and Conectus in our Proof of Concept investment activities.”
About Kurma Partners - www.kurmapartners.com
Created in 2009, Kurma Partners is a European leading venture capital group specialized
in Life Sciences and managing Kurma Biofund I, Kurma biofund II and its accelerator fund,
Kurma Diagnostics. The company has more than 250M€ under management and develops
an investment strategy supported by both the selection of best investment opportunity in

2. Europe and the development of a “proprietary” portfolio of company in which Kurma
intervenes at creation stage.
About Idinvest Partners - www.idinvest.com
With more than €6.7 billion under management, Idinvest Partners is a leading pan-
European private equity firm focused on the mid-market segment. Idinvest Partners has
developed several complementary areas of expertise including investments in innovative
European start-ups, primary, secondary and mezzanine investments in unlisted European
companies, and private equity consulting. Founded under the name AGF Private Equity in
1997, Idinvest Partners was formerly part of Allianz until 2010 when it joined forces with IDI
as an independent firm.
About Conectus - www.satt.conectus.fr
SATT Conectus inc. is the Technology Transfer Office for all public research laboratories in
Alsace region. Its academic shareholders (Université de Strasbourg, Université de Haute
Alsace, INSA, ENGEES, CNRS, INSERM) represent over 7000 people working in
laboratories, including 4 Nobel Price winners in activity. Conectus operate a 36M€ “Proof of
Concept” fund financed by the “Investment for the Future” program through its shareholder,
the “Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations”.
Press contact:
Idinvest Partners Kurma Partners
Idinvest Partners NewCap.
Marie-Claire Martin Nicolas Merigeau
Tel +33 1 58 18 56 69 Tél +33(0)1 44 51 94 98
mcm@idinvest.com nmerigeau@newcap.fr