UK-based, life sciences-focused investment firm Medicxi closed a late-stage fund at $300m yesterday with contributions from pharmaceutical firm Novartis and Verily, a life sciences subsidiary of internet technology conglomerate Alphabet.
Medicxi Growth 1 (MG1)’s other limited partners include the multilateral European Investment Fund and undisclosed new investors and backers from its first fund, the LPs of which included pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson.
Medicxi was spun out of venture capital firm Index Ventures and began formally operating in February 2016 with a $230m early-stage fund called Medicxi Ventures 1. In addition to new deals it also manages Index’s legacy life sciences investments.
MG1 will aim to fill a gap, providing growth-stage funding to biotech companies in Europe that are looking to expand, but which do not have access to the same amount of late-stage funds as their US counterparts.
Medicxi co-founder and partner Giuseppe Zocco said: “This late-stage growth fund will support ambitious European entrepreneurs who are willing and able to build innovative companies through advanced clinical development and market entry, rather than pursuing a premature and generally suboptimal early exit through partnering or M&A.”