Billion-Franc deal without champagne

In the right place at the right time. Or why a successful company sale always needs luck. NBE Therapeutics’ founder and CEO Ulf Grawunder on selling his company to Boehringer Ingelheim.

Everyone dreams of it; he did it. In January 2021, Ulf Grawunder sold his Basel startup NBE Therapeutics for EUR 1.2 billion to Boehringer Ingelheim. Anyone who thinks that the champagne flowed the evening after the contract was signed is wrong. “I fell into bed exhausted,” said Grawunder. A buyer does not suddenly appear at the door with a suitcase full of money—a company is not buying a sandwich at Migros: “A company sale is always the result of a long process, the conclusion of extensive negotiations.” And the timing has to be right: “You can’t force a company to sell if the market is not ready.” 

NBE Therapeutics works in the field of precision medicine. It couples strong chemotherapeutic agents with antibodies to target cancer cells, allowing the strong side-effects of traditional chemotherapy to be contained. Until recently, the still young technology had been met with great skepticism; however, its efficacy has been proven in preclinical and clinical studies. Currently, nine products are on the market, five of which have been approved in the last two years. “That has given NBE and the entire industry a boost and ultimately accelerated the sales process,” said Grawunder. 

Anyone who sells a startup usually sells not only the substance but also the expectations of the company’s potential. To determine the price, benchmark deals are important, and there were several in the months before NBE was sold: Merck acquired VelosBio in November 2020 for USD 2.75 billion, and Gilead Sciences bought Immunomedics in September 2020 for a record-breaking USD 21 billion. Both companies had products similar to those of NBE Therapeutics in the pipeline, albeit further developed. 

“That set a high benchmark, even for our early products,” said Grawunder. In addition, the price is always a matter of negotiation, and it is worth obtaining competing offers. “A competitive buyer environment always pays off,” said the NBE founder, who sold his first company, 4-Antibody, in 2012. 

The exit—sale or IPO—becomes the logical stage in a company’s development as soon as the first investor joins, as the backers have a clear goal: to multiply their investment. On the one hand, this offers the founder opportunities – financing of projects and research – but also risks, such as the loss of independence. “You always give up a certain amount of control,” said Grawunder. It is, thus, important to be able to attract “value-add investors”—investors that understand the subject matter and the technology. Boehringer’s venture fund came on board early at NBE, which was very positive for the further development of the Basel biotech startup. 

With the sale of the company, Grawunder is now giving up his “baby,” founded in 2012, but not entirely—he remains CEO and is responsible for the smooth integration at Boehringer Ingelheim and further expansion. For him, the sale is not a farewell but a confirmation of what has been achieved in recent years. “What has been built over the years has acquired value,” he said—and for the whole team: “All employees have benefited financially from the exit.” 

For the 56-year-old biochemist and cell biologist, the journey does not end there. He will continue to support and establish startups, and he is already co-founder of a new one: “Yes, there is a new project, but it’s not official yet.”


Ulf Grawunder at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2021

This article by Dominik Hertach was first published in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Magazine 2021.