BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), an early-stage venture capital company in European biopharma, has closed its BGV V fund at €150 million ($167.9 million), its largest fund since launching its first fund in 2006.
BGV V was oversubscribed, with demand from both existing and new investors, with existing investors Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Holdings and Bristol Myers Squibb further strengthening BioGeneration Ventures’ investor base of strategic life sciences and institutional investors. Of the new investors in the fund, 78% were of U.S. origin, all of whom are either large financial institutions or global life sciences companies.
BGV V will build on the investment strategy of previous BGV funds: dedication to early-stage ventures and company creation and seeking out therapeutic innovations that stem from differentiated science and are supported by convincing experimental data.
BioGeneration Ventures investing in 12 companies
BGV V expects to invest in approximately 12 companies focusing on drug discovery and development.
BioGeneration Ventures portfolio successes include Acerta Pharma, which was acquired by AstraZeneca for approximately $7 billion, and whose lead cancer asset has subsequently become the medicine Calquence. More recently, BGV announced the acquisition of Synaffix by Lonza for €160 million ($179 million), including a €100 million ($111.9 million) upfront cash payment.
Edward van Wezel, managing partner at BGV said: “The successful closing of our Fund V demonstrates continued investor confidence in BGV’s strategy of building new companies with the goal of creating transformational treatments and generating superior returns. We are ideally positioned to support our portfolio companies and their founders with the capital and expertise they need to progress projects from discovery to clinical proof-of-concept. We are delighted that several leading global pharmaceutical companies share our conviction in the potential of early-stage European biotechs by investing in BGV V.”
Companies in the current BioGeneration Ventures portfolio include: Azafaros, whose clinical candidate focusing on certain rare lysosomal storage disorders in children recently entered into a phase II study; Dualyx, which raised a €40 million ($44.8 million) financing to progress potential treatments in immunological diseases; and Complement Therapeutics, which received its initial funding from BGV in 2021 and recently raised €72 million ($80.6 million) in a Series A round to continue the clinical development of its lead product targeting the most common, and currently untreatable, eye-diseases with a novel gene therapy approach.