Germany-based Morressier raises €15.1M to protect research integrity; here’s how

Berlin-based Morressier, the virtual conference and publishing platform for the scientific community, announced that it has secured $16.5M (approximately €15.12M) in a Series B round of funding.

The investment was led by Molten Ventures, with participation from existing investors, including Redalpine, Owl Ventures, and Cherry Ventures.

Christoph Hornung, partner at Molten Ventures, says, “There is a massive need for a new infrastructure in the science world, and we are convinced that Morressier, with its highly experienced team, will be shaping the new structure of this industry in the following years.”

This Series B funding round follows the company’s €15M Series A round in May 2021 and will be supplemented with additional funds for potential acquisitions.

Workflows for transforming scholarly communications

Founded in 2014 by Sami Benchekroun, Justus Weweler and Rino Montiel, Morressier aims to lead the market in workflow solutions for academic societies and publishers, emphasising research integrity and confident publishing.

Othman Altalib, Morressier’s Chief Growth Officer, says, “Deepening our partnerships across the scholarly publishing industry is core to Morressier’s growth: it ensures that we remain aligned with and supportive of stakeholder needs.”

“This latest investment is going to be of huge benefit to our customers and the broader scholarly publishing community, as we up the ante in the research integrity arms race on their behalf.”

Morressier’s customers in the scientific ecosystem include IOP Publishing, AAAS, ASCE, APS, and Mayo Clinic.

Recently, Morressier introduced Integrity Manager to safeguard research integrity throughout the publishing process. 

The company, known for its pre-submission checks ensuring completeness and quality, is integrating integrity tools into Journal Manager, a journal submission system. IOP Publishing is set to be the inaugural major client for this development.

Capital utilisation

Morressier will use the funds to support its ongoing product innovation, scale go-to-market efforts in institutional and corporate markets, and foster collaborations with key research integrity vendors.

Co-founder Benchekroun says, “Attracting such strong support from investors in this climate is the ultimate validation that Morressier is doing critical work.”

“Science is experiencing an integrity crisis and this investment will help us to double down on our efforts to support academic societies, institutions and publishers in this fight.”