Prof. Dr. Arne Skerra, Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and Claus Schalper founded Pieris AG in 2001. The company's goal has always been to commercialize Dr. Skerra’s groundbreaking discovery of Anticalins and their potential as therapeutics. Since its inception, the company has maintained a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Skerra and his lab, which is located near company headquarters.
Through its Seed (2001), Series A (2002) and A1 (2006) financing rounds, the company received funding of € 18 M total from international life science investors Global Life Science Ventures (lead), Gilde Healthcare Partners (co-lead), Forbion Capital Partners, BayTech Venture Capital, Bio-M, TCB, KfW and BayernKapital.
In March 2008, the Company closed its Series B financing round, raising € 25 M (US$ 38 M / current exchange rate US$ 35M). The round was led by OrbiMed Advisors LLC with Novo Nordisk A/S as co-investor via its Novo Nordisk Biotech Fund. All existing investors also participated in the round.