Adcendo ApS, a Copenhagen-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumours, has closed an oversubscribed USD 75 million Series C financing round to advance its three-program ADC pipeline through upcoming clinical milestones.
The round was led by Jeito Capital, with new participation from Vida Ventures, BPI France, and EIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark). All existing investors joined, including TCGX, RA Capital Management, TPG, OrbiMed, Venrock, Surveyor, Logos Capital, Novo Holdings, Pontifax Venture Capital, Dawn Biopharma (a platform controlled by KKR), HealthCap, Gilde Healthcare, and Ysios Capital. As part of the transaction, Ksenija Pavletic of Jeito Capital and Rajul Jain of Vida Ventures will join Adcendo's board of directors. The company said proceeds will fund clinical progression of all three pipeline assets toward data readouts. The Series C follows a USD 135 million Series B closed in late 2024 and a Series A that was extended twice, reaching EUR 98 million by May 2024.
Adcendo's pipeline centres on three ADC programs, each directed at a distinct tumour-associated target. The lead candidate, ADCE-T02, targets Tissue Factor — a transmembrane protein overexpressed across a range of solid tumours including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, colorectal cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. The asset is currently in the Phase I Tiffany-01 cohort expansion study across multiple tumour indications. ADCE-T02 was in-licensed from Multitude Therapeutics under a global development and commercialisation agreement signed in August 2024. The second program, ADCE-D01, targets uPARAP, a collagen endocytosis receptor overexpressed in soft tissue sarcoma and other cancers of mesenchymal origin. It is currently enrolling in the ADCElerate1 Phase I/II dose-escalation and expansion study in soft tissue sarcoma, with a parallel European trial record also active. The third asset, ADCE-B05, targets an undisclosed antigen and is being evaluated in squamous cell carcinomas, with a dose-escalation study described as forthcoming.
The linker-payload technology underpinning ADCE-D01 was sourced through a licensing agreement with Duality Biologics, signed in January 2023, covering the company's DITAC platform. Adcendo subsequently exercised an option to extend the Duality collaboration to additional pipeline targets. The uPARAP biology behind ADCE-D01 has connections to researchers at the Finsen Laboratory, Rigshospitalet/BRIC, affiliated with the University of Copenhagen, though the company has not publicly disclosed a formal spinout or technology transfer arrangement. The company describes its approach as integrating novel targets, optimised linker-payload combinations, and a structured clinical development strategy, with management citing a track record of advancing multiple ADCs to regulatory approval.
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