Medicxi announces new €500m biotech investment fund

Life Sciences Venture Capital specialist Medicxi has announced the close of Medicxi V, a new €500m fund to support biopharmaceutical developers at all stages of development. The oversubscribed fund closed with support from existing limited partners and a select group of new institutional investors.

Since its last fundraise in 2023, Medicxi has created 16 new companies, delivered over 20 positive clinical data readouts, and realised more than $1bn across its portfolio. Value creation includes contributions from Vaxcyte Inc, Merus NV, and Abivax SA alongside the acquisitions of ViceBio Ltd, Lilly subsidiary Versanis Bio Inc, and ProfoundBio.

Continuing a proven investment strategy

Medicxi V will invest in newly founded as well as in existing companies at all stages of development.

“Medicxi’s experience is founded on its ties to global pharmaceutical companies and its team of drug hunters and clinicians,” explained Francesco De Rubertis, Co-founder and Partner at Medicxi. “The new €500m fund will enable Medicxi to provide the capital, expertise and experience to deliver therapies for patients.” Medicxi also announced the promotion of Shyam Masrani to Partner. Masrani led Medicxi’s investments in Merus, which recently had an €8bn M&A exit, and ProfoundBio, which was acquired by Genmab A/S last year, and currently serves on the boards of Acera Therapeutics, T-CypherBio, and Petalion Therapeutics Ltd. The investing partners in Fund V are Francesco De Rubertis, Giovanni Mariggi, Nick Williams, and Shyam Masrani.

Past Medicxi funds

Since its founding in 2016, Medicxi has raised a series of funds to support biopharmaceutical developers. Medicxi I, launched in 2016, raised €210m, but the number of companies funded is not publicly available. Medicxi II followed, though details about its capital, launch year, and the number of companies supported are not publicly disclosed. Medicxi III, closed in 2019 with €400m, funded approximately 17 companies, resulting in an average investment of around €23.5m per company. Medicxi IV, raised in 2023 with $400m, does not have publicly available data on the number of companies funded. Based on the average investment from Medicxi III, Medicxi V could theoretically support around 21 companies. Currently, there is no publicly available information on which companies have already received funding from Medicxi V or the amounts involved.