Sofinnova Partners closes €165m Biovelocita II biotech acceleration fund

With a new fund, Sofinnova Partners extends its 2016 strategy to accelerate the proof-of-concept for promising platforms developed by Italian biotechs to other countries. Sofinnova Partners oversubscribed €165m Biovelocita II fund provides a combination of direct management, financial support, and access to Sofinnova’s extensive infrastructure and network to scientific founders. The fund expands Sofinnova’s biotech acceleration strategy to France, the UK and Denmark, with the intention of reaching other European countries in the future.

From over 300 projects, the Paris-headquartered venture capital specialist has already selected three investments which, according to the French investor, will catalyse transformative innovation in biotechnology. Among the newly established companies are Italian Alzheimer’s specialist BioClec srl which is targeting a novel microglial pathway, Edinburgh-based Forth Therapeutics, a spin-out from the laboratory of Neil Henderson, who has identified novel fibrosis-specific targets in alveolar macrophages, hepatic stellate cells, and the colonic mesenchyme; and Signadori Bio, a novel cancer cell therapy platform developed by Jean-Luc Perfettini and  Nathalie Chaput that was selected from 50 projects at Gustave Roussy Institute.

Led by Partners Gabriella Camboni, Matthieu Coutet, Alex Leech and Zhizhong Joel Yao, Sofinnova Biovelocita II is the largest pan-European biotech accelerator dedicated to creating, building, and managing the next generation of biotech startups. Sofinnova Partners is set to unveil more biotech startup companies through Biovelocita II.