sphingotec raises €20 million from HBM and Wellington Partners
- Diagnostics company SphingoTec GmbH successfully closed €20 million growth equity financing round led by international specialist investors HBM Healthcare Investments, HBM BioCapital II LP (HBM) and Wellington Partners
- Proceeds will be used to launch the NEXUS IB 10 point-of-care (POC) platform and the novel acute biomarker blood tests sphingotest® penKid® and sphingotest® bio-ADM®
- Ability to timely measure kidney and endothelial function/dysfunction in acute kidney failure, heart failure and shock addresses large unmet needs in emergency and intensive care medicine.
- Board of Sphingotec will comprise senior diagnostics industry experts including Dr. Gerald Möller, former CEO of Boehringer Mannheim.
HENNIGSDORF, Germany
- October 8, 2018 - German diagnostics company SphingoTec GmbH has closed a €20m growth equity financing round led by international healthcare specialist investors HBM and Wellington Partners.
Sphingotec will primarily use the proceeds to roll out the fully automated IB 10 point-of-care (POC) platform for testing of a broad panel of acute blood biomarkers, which had been acquired in May 2018 through an acquisition of Samsung-subsidiary Nexus Dx Inc. Already more than 1,000 intensive care units (ICUs), emergency departments, smaller hospitals and larger practices in Europe and the Middle East are using the platform on a regular basis with more than 100,000 tests performed per year.
Sphingotec will also make its proprietary, highly innovative acute blood biomarkers bio-ADM® and penKid® available on this POC platform to ICUs and emergency departments. bio-ADM® is a marker of endothelial integrity that indicates when blood vessels become leaky. In clinical tests on patients with congestion in heart failure, bio-ADM was the only biomarker capable to predict residual congestion of patients with acute heart failure (AHF), who did not respond sufficiently to loop diuretics. . Residual, diuretic-resistant congestion is the major reason for re-hospitalization and post-discharge mortality in AHF. Automatic bio-ADM® POC testing thus solves an unmet medical need, that causes high cost for healthcare systems. Furthermore, bio-ADM® is a first in class-biomarker predicting circulatory shock in sepsis patients – another condition with unmet medical need.
penKid® is a first in class blood-based biomarker capable to timely monitor kidney function in high-risk patients by giving direct information on the true Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), the gold standard to assess kidney function. The functional kidney biomarker penKid® has been clinically shown to diagnose and monitor acute kidney injury (AKI) in earliest stages of congestion in acute heart failure.
Congestive heart failure affects 26 million patients globally and costs $24bn annually. Each year, 8 million people die from sepsis, 700,000 by acute kidney injury (AKI).
As part of the financing, Dr. Matthias Fehr, Investment Advisor at HBM Partners and Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner at Wellington Partners, Dr. Ute Kilger, Partner at Boehmert & Boehmert, Dr. Method Miklus, former COO of B.R.A.H.M.S and Dr. Gerald Möller, former CEO of Boehringer Mannheim will join the Board of sphingotec.
“We are delighted to have gained the support from HBM and Wellington Partners, which enables us to bring our innovative biomarkers much faster to ICUs and emergency departments, where they can support decision-making in diagnostically underserved conditions such as septic shock, acute heart failure and acute kidney injury,” said Dr. Andreas Bergmann, CEO and founder of SphingoTec GmbH. “Starting in Central Europe, a growing distributor network will allow the timely introduction of a complete solution for the hospital acute point of care market in AKI, AHF and sepsis diagnosis and monitoring.”
“Sphingotec’s acute biomarker tests target a global multibillion Euro market opportunity in a field of high unmet medical need. We are convinced that the company’s biomarker portfolio has the potential to significantly improve decision making in acute settings,” commented Dr. Matthias Fehr, Investment Advisor at HBM Partners.
Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner at Wellington Partners, commented: “The addition of sphingotec’s functional blood biomarkers, whose clinical utility have already been proven on tens of thousands of patients, to the market-validated IB10 POC testing immunoassay platform closes a major current gap in diagnostic testing in critical care. The company’s biomarker tests are designed to allow timely monitoring of endothelial and kidney function as well as the effects of therapeutic interventions, which is crucial for physicians at ICUs and emergency departments.”
About SphingoTec GmbH:
SphingoTec GmbH (Hennigsdorf, Germany) is developing and marketing innovative biomarkers penKid® and bio-ADM® for prediction, diagnosis and therapy monitoring of AKI, congestive heart failure and septic shock, as well as the Nexus IB10 POC testing immunoassay platform acquired from Samsung-subsidiary Nexus Dx Inc. in May 2018. The company, founded by Dr. Andreas Bergmann in 2002, in addition is developing a pipeline of novel biomarkers which can predict the risks of obesity, breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
About HBM Healthcare Investments Ltd:
HBM Healthcare Investments invests in the healthcare sector. The company holds and manages an international portfolio of promising companies in the human medicine, biotechnology, medical technology, and diagnostics sectors and related areas. Many of these companies have their lead products already available on the market or at an advanced stage of development. The portfolio companies are closely tracked and actively guided in their strategic direction. This is what makes HBM Healthcare Investments an interesting alternative to investments in Big pharma and biotechnology companies. HBM Healthcare Investments, with funds under management of more than € 1 bn, has an international shareholder base and is listed on SIX Swiss Exchange (HBMN).
About Wellington Partners:
Wellington Partners is a leading European Venture Capital firm investing in early- and growth-stage Life Science companies, active in the fields of Therapeutics, Medical Technology, Diagnostics, Digital Health and Industrial Biotechnology. With funds totaling more than € 1.0 billion, thereof €400 million committed to Life Sciences, Wellington Partners has been actively supporting world-class private companies translating true innovation into successful businesses of exceptional growth. Since 1998 Wellington Partners has invested in 42 Life Science start-ups, including diagnostic companies MTM Laboratories (acquired by Roche), Definiens (acquired by AZ/Medimmune) and Oxford Immunotec (NASDAQ: OXFD).
About penKid®:
penKid® is the very first functional kidney marker that works in blood. penKid® is independent from comorbidities and inflammation and provides timely information about the changing kidney function in critically ill patients. sphingotest® penKid® is non-inferior to the gold standard in vivo measurement of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). These features enable physicians to diagnose and closely monitor worsening and improving kidney function in critically ill patients.
About bio-ADM®:
As a marker of vascular integrity, bio-ADM® enables both diagnosis of diuretic resistant congestion in acute heart failure patients and the prediction of circulatory shock two days before blood pressure breakdown, e.g. in septic patients.
A biomarker-assisted diuretics therapy in patients with congestive heart failure/cardio-renal syndrome, by simultaneous measurement of bio-ADM® and penKid®, targets lower re-hospitalization and mortality rates.
In a prospective, real-world study of 1,436 critically ill ICU patients, proenkephalin A 119–159 (penKid) provided clinically relevant information across AKI severity and during kidney replacement therapy (KRT). PenKid addressed a key unmet need in KRT management by identifying, with greater precision than standard biomarkers, patients at high risk of KRT liberation failure – helping to avoid stopping therapy too early. The findings support a future role for penKid in helping to standardize one of the few intensive care processes where the need for better decision support is widely acknowledged and current tools remain insufficient. Hennigsdorf, Germany – August 27, 2026 – SphingoTec GmbH announces the publication of new real-world data on proenkephalin A 119–159 (penKid) in critically ill patients. The data, published in Annals of Intensive Care, add to the growing body of evidence supporting penKid as a functional biomarker for kidney function and help inform clinical decision-making in AKI and KRT (1). In a prospective observational study at Heidelberg University Hospital, penKid was measured in 1,436 critically ill patients, including 138 patients receiving KRT for liberation analyses. The findings showed that penKid rose with AKI severity and, unlike serum creatinine and urine output, distinguished stage 3 AKI patients with and without an acute KRT requirement. In contrast to serum creatinine, penKid also differentiated acute KRT patients from those with pre-existing kidney failure and on chronic hemodialysis prior ICU admission, even while KRT treatment was ongoing (1). The study further showed that penKid levels increased progressively from the start of KRT, while serum creatinine decreased under treatment. Following successful liberation from KRT, penKid declined, whereas higher levels were seen in cases of liberation failure. In multivariable analysis, penKid was the strongest independent predictor of liberation failure and outperformed serum creatinine. A penKid cut-off of ≥250 pmol/L provided more than 90% specificity for liberation failure (1). By identifying patients at high risk of unsuccessful liberation, penKid may help clinicians make KRT discontinuation decisions more objectively, reduce the risk of stopping therapy too early, and support more standardized decision-making across critical care settings. “These data are important because they address a real-world clinical problem: how to better assess kidney function and support KRT decisions when standard markers fall short,” said Deborah Bergmann, CEO of SphingoTec. “penKid provides clinicians with an objective, real-time measurable parameter that may help support more informed and consistent kidney-related decisions in critical care.” Christian Nusshag, MD, Department of Nephrology, Heidelberg University Hospital, said: “Current markers often leave clinicians with an incomplete picture. Our findings suggest that penKid may help standardize decision-making by providing additional, actionable information on kidney integrity and recovery.” About penKid, scientific insights PenKid is a biomarker that enables real-time assessment of kidney function. Unlike conventional markers such as serum creatinine, penKid levels are not influenced by inflammation or other confounding factors like age or sex. Studies have shown that penKid allows earlier detection of AKI, predicting changes in serum creatinine up to 48 hours before conventional diagnostic criteria are met. This early detection capability is particularly valuable in critically ill patients, including those with sepsis or septic shock. Additionally, penKid has shown potential for monitoring renal recovery under KRT and could help predict successful liberation from KRT. About SphingoTec SphingoTec GmbH ("SphingoTec"; Hennigsdorf near Berlin, Germany) is a biomarker company focusing on the out-licensing of innovative critical care solutions for diagnosing, predicting, and monitoring acute medical conditions. SphingoTec develops its biomarkers to the commercial stage and partners with IVD companies to make them available on different IVD platforms. SphingoTec's proprietary biomarker portfolio includes Proenkephalin A 119-159 (penKid), a biomarker for the assessment of kidney function in critical diseases, and bioactive Adrenomedullin 1-52 (bio-ADM), a biomarker for the assessment of endothelial function in conditions like acute heart failure. Discover more on www.sphingotec.com References (1) Gabriel DC, Sauer P, Happel R, et al. Proenkephalin A for Assessing Kidney Integrity and Guiding KRT Liberation Decisions in Critically Ill Patients. Annals of Intensive Care. 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.aicoj.2026.100113. Media Contact: Email: press@sphingotec.com Phone +49-3302-20565-0 SphingoTec GmbH Neuendorfstr. 15A 16761 Hennigsdorf, Germany
Hennigsdorf, Germany – August 19, 2026 – Over the coming months, SphingoTec will be present at a series of leading conferences in diagnostics and critical care medicine. These engagements reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to advancing biomarker-driven solutions that support earlier and more precise clinical decision-making in acute and critical care settings. The company’s conference schedule includes: DGAI (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anästhesiologie und Intensivmedizin), September 16-18, 2026, Kassel, Germany Kongress für Nephrologie 2026 (DGFN / Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nephrologie), October 08-11, 2026, Leipzig, Germany ESICM Lives, October 10-14, 2026, Lisbon, Portugal – SphingoTec will co-host a Scientific Symposium together with business partner Boditech, focusing on innovations in sepsis diagnostics. In parallel, new clinical data on penKid in a multicenter sepsis study will be presented as a poster at the ESICM congress. ASN Kidney Week 2026, Denver, CO, USA, October 22–25, 2026 – penKid takes center stage in the poster sessions with the abstract “Proenkephalin Predicts Severe AKI in High-Risk Patients” Medica, November 16-19, 2026, Düsseldorf, Germany – Focus on expanding SphingoTec’s international industry network and advancing partnering opportunities for its biomarker portfolio. DIVI (Deutsche Interdisziplinäre Vereinigung für Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin), December 2-4, 2026, Hamburg, Germany “These events bring together clinicians, researchers, and industry partners who share our goal of improving outcomes for patients in critical care,” said Deborah Bergmann, CEO of SphingoTec. “By presenting our latest data and engaging in direct dialogue, we aim to strengthen collaborations that translate biomarker innovation into real clinical value.” About SphingoTec SphingoTec GmbH ("SphingoTec"; Hennigsdorf near Berlin, Germany) is a biomarker company focusing on the out-licensing of innovative critical care solutions for diagnosing, predicting, and monitoring acute medical conditions. SphingoTec develops its biomarkers to the commercial stage and partners with IVD companies to make them available on different IVD platforms. SphingoTec's proprietary biomarker portfolio includes Proenkephalin A 119-159 (penKid), a biomarker for the assessment of kidney function in critical diseases, and bioactive Adrenomedullin 1-52 (bio-ADM), a biomarker for the assessment of endothelial function in conditions like acute heart failure. Discover more on www.sphingotec.com Media Contact: Email: press@sphingotec.com Phone +49-3302-20565-0 SphingoTec GmbH Neuendorfstr. 15A 16761 Hennigsdorf, Germany