Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, announced the final close of Sofinnova Biovelocita II. This fund has exceeded its target, successfully raising €165 million, with substantial backing from the top global pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Pfizer Ventures.
This milestone marks a significant expansion of Sofinnova’s biotech acceleration strategy, which extends beyond Italy to include France, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. The company aims to reach additional European countries in the future.
Since launching, the fund has screened over 300 projects and made several key investments into new companies across Europe driving cutting-edge innovation in biotechnology. And among the newly established companies are BioClec, focused on breakthrough therapies for Alzheimer’s disease; Forth Therapeutics, a spin-out of the University of Edinburgh, which is advancing next-generation precision therapeutics for fibrosis; and Signadori Bio, a novel cell therapy platform, developed from research at the Gustave Roussy Institute.
Headed by Partners Gabriella Camboni, Matthieu Coutet, Alex Leech and Zhizhong Joel Yao, Sofinnova Biovelocita II is known as the largest Pan-European biotech accelerator. And it is dedicated to creating, building, and managing the next generation of biotech startups.
The Sofinnova Biovelocita strategy provides scientific founders a comprehensive, hands-on framework, combining direct management, financial support, and access to Sofinnova’s extensive infrastructure and network. This approach builds on more than a decade of expertise in startup acceleration, in biotech and medtech, which has already been instrumental in creating pioneering life sciences ventures.
KEY QUOTES:
“Building on the success of Biovelocita I in Italy, we have now developed a pan-European strategy and assembled a world class team to create and manage companies across the European biotech ecosystem. The strong response from our pharmaceutical partners and the fact that we exceeded our fundraising target underscore the demand for such an approach. This achievement highlights our commitment to fostering biotech innovation, supporting visionary entrepreneurs, and shaping the future of healthcare.”
– Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners
