The SeedStep Angels and the OKAngel Sidecar Fund, managed by i2E have closed a $400,000 investment in Oklahoma City-based Altheus Therapeutics, a company that has developed a combination therapy for ulcerative colitis. The investment was a second closing of a Series B financing round, the first of which included the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, which totaled $3.0 million.

PRESS RELEASE

The SeedStep Angels and the OKAngel Sidecar Fund, managed by i2E, Inc., recently closed a $400,000 investment in Oklahoma City-based Altheus Therapeutics, a company that has developed a novel combination therapy for ulcerative colitis. The investment was a secondary closing of a Series B financing round, the first of which included the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, that totaled $3.0 million.

Altheus Therapeutics is currently in a Phase 2 clincial study of Zoenasa, the therapy it developed for inflammatory bowel diseases that combines two previously FDA approved medications to treat a disease that affects more than 2 million people worldwide. The potential of the Zoenasa combination was discovered by Dr. Richard Harty, former chief of gastroenterology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the company’s chief scientific officer.

The investment made through the OKAngel Sidecar Fund is one of three investment Funds created by i2E through the Accelerate Oklahoma! partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and the U.S. Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative.

The co-investment ratio with the federal funds upon closing is 1:1 and subsequent investments and traditional financing are expected to result in a greater leverage ratio within five years.

About Altheus Therapeutics, Inc.

Dennis Schafer, CEO
Year started: 2007
Location: Oklahoma City

About i2E, Inc.: With offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK, not-for-profit i2E provides an award-winning suite of venture advisory, access to capital and entrepreneurial development programs for Oklahoma’s high growth businesses.