Italy-based venture capital firm Panakès Partners launched its first fund yesterday with contributions from limited partners including pharmaceutical companies Menarini and RottaPharmBiotech, electronics manufacturer Elemaster and care provider SapioLife.
The corporates were joined as LPs by the multilateral European Investment Fund and the Italian state-backed Fondo Italiano d’Investimento.
Panakès is looking to invest in medical technology developers with a particular focus on diagnostic devices and kits, therapeutic medical devices and healthcare IT.
The firm will prioritise companies with strong intellectual property at the prototype level or later that address unmet clinical needs.
Fabrizio Landi, managing partner of Panakès Partners, said: “Panakès is focused on funding companies with innovation that can be quantified in terms of both improvements in patient outcomes as well as healthcare economics. Italy and Europe represent the best ground for these opportunities, that can deliver also excellent financial returns.
“We are excited to launch our fund, and appreciate the support of all our institutional and corporate investors for our strategy and team.”
Panakès has not yet disclosed how much it has raised for the fund, which reached its second close last month. The firm hopes to reach the next close in March 2016.