Medicxi raises €400m in latest fund to support EU biotech
After the closure of its third fund, entitled Medicxi III, the biotech fund has generated over $1bn (€891m) during the course of its three years.
Medicxi noted that both Novartis and Johnson & Johnson had remained ‘cornerstone investors’, which follows on from a trend seen in previous rounds.
The funds will be put to use investing in companies based in the European Union (EU) at the discovery stage, all way through to late-stage clinical assets.
The investment company’s decision making on which investments to pursue will be aided by the ‘Medicxi Scientific Advisory Board’, which contains senior executives from Novartis, Janssen, GSK, and Verily.
Francesco De Rubertis, co-founder and partner at Medicxi, said: “Medicxi III is one of the largest biotech funds in Europe and consolidates Medicxi's position as a key operating platform for scientific entrepreneurs and drug hunters. We are grateful to our [investors] who made it possible to get the fund closed within only a few weeks.”
In total, the €400m ($448m) was raised in six weeks – with the investment group pointing to the ‘maturity’ of the life sciences sector across Europe as a reason for it closing so quickly.
Garnering sufficient capital has been an issue that European biotechs have faced to progress potential therapeutic candidates, with levels of funding far less when compared with their US counterparts. However, it appears that the picture is changing, with investment in European biotechs now increasing.
