New French Biotech Seed Fund Raises €65M in its First Closing

Advent France Biotechnology has launched its first seed fund for Life Sciences with the support of Bpifrance and Advent Life Sciences. 

Advent France Biotechnology, founded in 2015, has exceeded its initial fundraising target at the first closing. Its Seed-Fund I now counts with €64.75M that will be invested predominantly in France. The funds will back entrepreneurs and early-stage companies with the potential to develop first- or best-in-class innovations that address unmet medical needs.

Advent France has declared that its aim is to respond to the high need and demand for early-stage investors in Life Sciences , and to emerge as a leading player in Life Sciences seed investments in France. The company’s plans include working closely with multiple research institutions and their respective technology transfer offices.

The new fund was raised with the support of major names in the Life Sciences investment scene in Europe. Bpifrance has contributed with funds from its Investments for the Future Program (PIA), and the European Union has deployed cash from the European Fund for Strategic Investments and the InnovFin Finance for Innovators initiative.

In addition, Advent France Biotechnology is supported by Advent Life Sciences, one of the top biotech VCs in Europe, which offers the young investment firm direct access to a team of 15 professionals. In fact, Advent France Biotechnology has stated that it plans to follow the same methodology as its European namesake.

Technology transfer is indeed essential to biotechnology, and Europe still needs to work on building a bridge between academic research and business to turn its first-line research into real applications. “There’s a funding gap for translational programs from academia,” Thomas Hanke, Executive VP of Evotec, told us.  His company recently started a program to fund projects coming out of universities. Initiatives to provide funding at the early stage is one of the key factors to bridge that gap, and Advent France will surely contribute to the transition from the bench to the market.

Images from Tero Vesalainen, Zheltikov Dmitriy /Shutterstock