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Sofinnova's Window on Early-Stage Technology in Europe

 
• By Mary Stuart

In Europe, one of the historical obstacles to company creation has been a lack of venture capital funding. Not any longer. Abingworth's life-science-focused fund, Abingworth Bioventures IV, raised $350 million; Schroder Ventures Life Sciences' fund International Life Sciences III was $402 million; and the latest life sciences fund of Techno Venture Management was $450 million. These funds now rival their counterparts on the East Coast or the Bay area of the US. Now, the Paris-based venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners has closed its fifth fund, at €385 million ($516 million). Sofinnova Capital V is perhaps the largest European fund dedicated to early-stage investing in life sciences and IT, with a focus on European companies.

There's a large gulf between the number of life science start-ups in Europe compared to the US, despite the similarity in size of the two territories, and despite the favorable regulatory climate in the EU that means, especially for medical devices, that products make it into patients sooner than they might in the US. But one of the historical obstacles to company creation has been a lack of venture capital funding. European start-ups have received about a sixth of the funds dedicated to companies in the US.

Not any longer. The successive successes of European VCs that invest in life sciences means that funds are getting larger....

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