Germany-based venture capital firm Earlybird Venture Capital reached the first close of a health technology fund yesterday, having secured contributions from limited partners including domestic appliance producer Miele and insurance firm Generali.
Earlybird Health Tech Fund has a target size of between €100m and €120m ($112m to $135m), and will invest in Europe-based medical, digital health and diagnostics technology developers.
The fund’s other LPs include public health insurer Barmer Gek, financial services firm NRW.Bank and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which is providing capital from the European Recovery Program’s ERP Fund.
Earlybird plans to invest in between 12 and 15 companies through the fund. It has exited from eight healthcare technology companies since it was founded in 2007, and its portfolio currently includes brain stimulation technology developer EBS Technologies and cardiac medical device maker Miracor.
Thom Rasche, a partner at Earlybird and a health technology specialist, said: “The developments in medicine and medical care resulting from the introduction and use of new digital technologies are increasingly becoming key innovation drivers in healthcare.”