PL BioScience

Who owns PL BioScience?

PL BioScience is currently owned by D11Z. Ventures through ZFHN Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn (D11Z. Ventures Evergreen) (2005 vintage), since 2021.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-07-03

About PL BioScience

PL BioScience is an Aachen, Germany based biotechnology company that develops and manufactures human platelet lysate (HPL), a xeno-free cell-culture supplement used as an animal-free alternative to fetal bovine serum in research and in the production of cell-based therapies. Its ELAREM product line supplies growth-factor-rich HPL spanning early-stage research grades through GMP-grade material for clinical manufacturing, positioning the company within the cell and gene therapy supply chain. According to company disclosures, PL BioScience operates what it describes as the world's largest HPL output, with new facilities designed to produce up to 20,000 liters of GMP-grade HPL per year. In 2025 it launched a patented gamma-irradiated HPL and introduced what it presented as the first artificial, fully lab-made human platelet lysate worldwide.

Ownership journey

PL BioScience was founded in 2015 in Aachen by Dr. Hatim Hemeda and Christian Wilkes as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, and it secured an EXIST business start-up grant from the German federal government in its early phase. ZFHN Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn, the Heilbronn-based evergreen investor later rebranded as D11Z. Ventures in 2024, backed the company through its early-stage vehicle, with the growth financing for PL BioScience disclosed around the start of the decade and the company listed among the fund's portfolio holdings. As an evergreen backer, the fund has continued to hold its position, and PL BioScience remains an active portfolio company with no exit or secondary transaction recorded.

Under PE ownership

The capital was earmarked to finalize the company's platform technology and to scale up production and distribution of its HPL supplements. Since the investment, PL BioScience has expanded internationally, signing an exclusive North American distribution agreement in 2021, and has broadened ELAREM into GMP-grade material for clinical cell-therapy manufacturing. In 2025 the company announced a major site expansion, moving to a new 1,200 square meter headquarters in Aachen designed to lift GMP-grade HPL capacity toward 20,000 liters per year, and it added a patented gamma-irradiated HPL and a first-of-its-kind artificial HPL to its portfolio. It also strengthened its leadership, appointing a chief technology officer as it industrialized manufacturing.