Truffle Capital has held the first close (PDF) of its BioMedTech venture fund. The French VC shop moved quickly to put the initial $102 million to use by setting up and financing three startups in its home country.
Truffle will use the money to further the model that has served it well to date. That means Truffle will be scouring European and U.S. universities for medtech and drug innovation. Once it has secured the rights to a technology, Truffle will pair it with an experienced management team in France and give it the money to take a developmental candidate forward.
The operating model, along with the returns it has generated, has attracted the interest of European and Asian institutional and corporate investors, plus family offices. These backers drove Truffle to its first $102 million close. And the VC shop thinks it will reach its final, $240 million target this year.
Truffle’s confidence is underpinned by the successes it achieved last year. In March, Boston Scientific put together a $435 million deal to buy Truffle portfolio company Symetis. Truffle was in the money again in October, when Stryker swooped on Vexim in a deal that valued the spinal device company at around $194 million.
The fund is looking to repeat these successes with the first batch of companies created under its new investment vehicle. Details about the companies are scarce as it stands. What is known is that three members of the Truffle team are each chairing a startup created and funded by the VC shop. And that the startups are called HoliStick Medical, ArteDrone and Nanosive.
Truffle expects to finance about a dozen companies through the fund.