Sofinnova Partners has pulled in a healthy €445 million ($540 million) in its latest capital raise as the European venture capital firm seeks out late-stage plays in biotech and medtech.
The fund was “oversubscribed and significantly exceeded its target,” the Paris-based firm said, and with this latest cash boost it's set to continue its focus on European clinical-stage companies “needing scale-up capital” while also supporting “best-in-class companies” in the U.S. and elsewhere.
It did, not however, detail any particular targets it was going after. Other VC firms have said in a COVID-19 world they would focus more on conditions such as infectious diseases and other neglected R&D areas.
This comes two years after it raised a meaty €333 million ($368 million) in another oversubscribed round, which then focused on earlier-stage efforts. Raising substantially more a year into a global pandemic shows just how buoyant the life science industry is, which has seen billions raised from VC firms in the past 15 months along with a series of major IPOs for biotechs.
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“European biopharma and medtech companies have matured tremendously in the last decade,” said Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner of Sofinnova Partners.
”Sofinnova Partners was the first European VC to seize the opportunity to unlock the potential of these high-growth start-ups by providing late-stage capital, building on our decades of experience funding innovative life science companies.
“With over €2 billion of assets under management dedicated to life science investing and an outstanding international team, Sofinnova Partners continues its expansion to partner with ambitious entrepreneurs across Europe, from company creation to late-stage developments.”