Sofinnova Partners raises €650m for early-stage biotechs

European life sciences venture capital company Sofinnova Partners has closed its latest fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, raising €650 million (around $750 million) for investment in early-stage biotech and medtech companies across Europe and the US.

Paris, France-based Sofinnova Partners said the flagship fund had exceeded its initial target thanks to strong support from institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, pharma companies and other corporates, as well as insurance companies, foundations, and family offices.

Managing partner Antoine Papiernik (top image, left) said the fund is a "pivotal moment" for Sofinnova as it "gives us the firepower to double down on early-stage opportunities and reinforces our uniquely collaborative, science-driven investment approach."

The announcement takes the total raised by Sofinnova Partners in the last year to €1.5 billion, and comes shortly after Anglo-Swiss-based VC Medicxi closed a €500 million sixth fund, in a positive sign for access to capital for European life sciences companies.

In the first quarter of this year, Sofinnova said it had raised €1.2 billion in funding that it predicted could be sufficient to support 50 to 60 life science companies, with more than €1 billion coming in the last three months of 2024.

At the time, it said it was managing funds worth more than €4 billion across the biopharma, medtech, industrial biotech, and digital medicine categories, and had supported more than 500 companies since it was set up in the early 1070s.

According to the VC, Sofinnova Capital XI is "actively deploying capital," with investments already made in some companies, and will be focusing on both initial and follow-on rounds.

Among the recent investments by Sofinnova Partners is participation in a $91 million Series A extension for Cambridge, UK-based T-Therapeutics, a startup developing cell receptor (TCR) therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases, which closed last week, and a $141 million Series B for inherited retinal disease drug developer AAVantgarde.

Other portfolio companies include metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) therapy developer Inventiva, neurodegenerative disease specialist Muna Therapeutics, women's health firm Noema Pharma, and Tulyp Medical, a Paris-based startup developing a pressure-driven perfusion device to improve oxygen delivery during vascular procedures.

In March, Sofinnova Partners also closed its Biovelocita II accelerator fund, worth €165 million, which was announced alongside the launch of three new companies: BioClec, focused on breakthrough therapies for Alzheimer's disease; Forth Therapeutics, a spin-out of the University of Edinburgh that is advancing therapeutics for fibrosis; and Signadori Bio, working on a novel cell therapy platform arising from research at the Gustave Roussy Institute.