Taiwan-based insurance provider Cathay Life Insurance has provided $10m for US-based healthcare-focused investment firm Vivo Capital’s $100m Vivo Panda Fund I, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday.
The fund’s limited partners also include Taiwan Sillicon Valley Technology Fund, a $120m vehicle set up by the Taiwanese government in February 2016 through its Ministry of Science and Technology and National Development Council. It supplied $40m for Panda Fund I.
Vivo Panda Fund I will seek out opportunities in the life sciences sector, focusing on early-stage companies developing pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics technology.
The fund’s goal is to help startups from the US expand into greater China and vice versa. Vivo Capital separately announced it has opened a new office in Taipei to facilitate those efforts, adding to offices in Palo Alto, Beijing and Shanghai.
Vivo Capital now has more than $1.8bn under management. The firm closed its eighth fund, which is aimed at later-stage businesses, at $750m in March 2015.