NimbleGen Co-Founder Opens Invenra

If you pay attention to emerging biotech companies, you might have heard of Sutro Biopharma. With a new way of making therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, the Northern California company has raised more than $90 million and just struck a major deal with Celgene.

It’s a lot less likely you’ve heard of Invenra. But the Madison, WI-based company says it has a similar technology to Sutro: an antibody production system that doesn’t use genetically modified cells such as E. coli or Chinese hamster ovary cells as the factories, a break from the industry standard.

“The plan was to stay low profile until the technology was ready and avoid all the distractions,” Invenra CEO Roland Green says.

Now, with $4 million raised from friends and other angel investors, Green is ready to talk, and Invenra is just about ready to go work, first as a service company to help drug makers find therapeutic antibodies.

Read more at Xconomy.