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Spain's First Biotech VC

Signs are that Spanish biotech, until now held back by a lack of capital and management expertise, may be about to receive the kick-start it badly needs. Newly-created Ysios Capital Partners is the country's first specialist VC. It's raising a first fund worth €65 million ($92 million)--and it's not alone.

When Roche bought Swiss antibody group GlycArt Biotechnology AG in 2005, an early move in Big Pharma’s by now frenzied biotech land-grab, GlycArt’s co-founder and CEO Joël Jean-Mairet, PhD, was freed up to take his expertise—and some of his money—elsewhere. [See Deal] He turned his attention to the biotech sector in his birthplace, Spain.

Spanish biotech remains in its infancy, held back by a lack of capital and management expertise. So Jean-Mairet is taking...

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