LSP raises a whopping €850m for the European life sciences

LSP 7 is the first European life sciences venture fund to reach a fund size of US$1bn, a “milestone for the industry” stresses LSP. The investment firm anticipates that the fund will ultimately reach €1bn – bringing the total of funds raised by LSP over the years to €3bn. LSP 7 attracted capital from a diverse, institutional investor base including pension funds, insurance companies, wealth managers, government funds such as EIF, as well as family offices. Many investors in previous funds also invested in LSP 7. In addition, LSP has commitments from multiple top-tier pharmaceutical companies.

Like its predecessors, LSP 7 will invest in 15-20 innovative drug development or medical technology companies, primarily in Europe. Already, the fund has completed three investments: Egle Therapeutics, a French biotech company focused on developing T-regulatory cell therapies for oncology and auto-immune diseases; an undisclosed German company – founded by LSP – developing innovative radiotherapeutics; and Evommune, a US biotech company developing a unique chronic inflammation pipeline.

“We will continue our strategy of the past decades of investing in early-stage life sciences companies, but the size of the fund enables us to be an even stronger lead investor. With LSP 7, we can meaningfully contribute to the growth of our industry and ensure that European innovations make it to patients faster,” comments René Kuijten, Managing Partner of LSP.

EIF Chief Executive, Alain Godard, added: “The COVID-19 crisis has further emphasised the need to keep on innovating in the life sciences sector for patients, for our healthcare systems and for Europe’s competitiveness. Today’s agreement shows that investing in European life sciences companies in their early and development stages is an attractive value proposition for investors with long term strategies. We hope that this deal will have a further signalling function for the life science sector both in the Benelux region and across Europe”.