Irish Life Sciences VC Raises €118M Fund with European Focus

Fountain Healthcare Partners

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Fountain Healthcare Partners has raised €118M in its third fund dedicated to investing in life sciences, with the majority of the funds destined to go to European companies.

Of the total raised, €45M was contributed by the European Investment Fund, which invested in both of Fountain’s previous funds. Other investors are Coolidge Limited, the Ireland Strategic Fund, and the Allied Irish Bank.

Based in Dublin and New York, Fountain Healthcare Partners invests in specialty pharma, biotech and medical device companies. The majority of its investments focus on private European companies at all stages of development, although in some cases it invests in the US and in public companies as well. Through the new fund, Fountain expects to make 10 to 12 investments.

This third fund is the most successful for Fountain so far, exceeding its initial target of €100M and becoming the largest VC fund in Ireland dedicated to life sciences. The VC now manages a total of €294M and its current portfolio counts with several promising European biotech companies such as Nerre Therapeutics, Kandy Therapeutics, Inflazome and Syndesi Therapeutics.

Fountain Healthcare Partners has so far seen 4 company exits since the VC’s foundation in 2008. Among them are three companies that have since received FDA approval for the products they were developing. In 2012, the Irish company Amarin Corporation launched Vascepa, a drug for cardiovascular disease that is expected to be approved in Europe soon.

Also Irish, the company Neuravi was acquired in 2017 by J&J and received approval in 2018 for a medical device that removed blood clots after a stroke. Based in the US, Civitas Therapeutics was acquired in 2014 and received approval for its inhalable Parkinson’s drug Inbrija in 2018.


Picture via Fountain Healthcare Partners; from left to right, partners Aidan Kind, Manus Rogan and Ena Prosser

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