LSP raises €280m for late-stage med-tech companies

With its LSP Health Economics Fund 2 (LSP HEF 2), European investment group LSP outperforms other funds launched this year, that invest into companies with products on the market or close to market introduction. However, in contrast to Medicxi Growth 1 (€267m) or Gilde Healthcare IV Fund (€250m), LSP HEF 2 will not invest into drug developers but will channel the €280m into about 15 European or US-based private med-tech companies.

As in LSP’s previous €112m LSP HEF 1 fund, which made ten investments since its launch in 2012, investors include health insurance companies, family office and institutional investors or asset managers. This time, it also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF). Together with our other fund strategies, LSP 1-5 investing mainly in drug development and LSP Public investing in public health care companies, we now cover the entire life sciences landscape as one of Europe’s largest investors in the sector, said Dr Rudy Dekeyser, Managing Partner of the oversubscribed LSP HEF 2 in a press release.

LSP Health Economics Funds are dedicated to support innovations that have the potential to improve the quality of patient care while also keeping healthcare costs in check. Consequently, the interest of health insurers is huge: at its start, the LSP HEF 1 fund received a €50m cornerstone investment from Achmea, the largest healthcare insurance company in The Netherlands, followed by smaller investments of Dutch health insurer Menzis, and undisclosed insurance companies from France and Germany.

According to Rudy Dekeyser, who was also managing partner LSP HEF1, the concept of sustainable health care is very attractive to investors who expect a socio-economic return next to a financial return. While public companies saw an upturn in investements, according to a very recent capital market report, in Europe as well as in the US, early-stage and bridge financing remain a problem  particularly in Europe.