Advent Venture garners $120M for life sciences fund

European as well as U.S. biotechs now have a new fund with deep pockets to explore. London-based Advent Venture Partners has raised $120 million for a dedicated life sciences fund. The venture group has been an active investor in the biotech field, backing companies in Europe as well as the U.S., including a contribution to Avila Therapeutics.

General Partners Shahzad Malik and Raj Parekh will run the life sciences fund, which will hunt up promising developers with early and mid-stage products. They're looking for new technology that has a clear shot at becoming a best-in-class drug, enabling technology, med tech or diagnostic.

"We are pleased to have closed our first life sciences fund at this level, in an environment of unprecedented difficulty for raising European venture funds," said Parekh. "We appreciate the support that our LPs have shown to the team and the sector and we look forward to investing this fund at such an opportune time in the cycle."

The UK Future Technologies Fund contributed to the fund. In addition to Avila Advent has backed Cellnovo, Respivert, Thiakis and Algeta.

- check out Advent's release
- here's the report from WiredVC