Netherlands-based venture capital firm Forbion Capital Partners closed a €360 ($415m) fund on Monday with commitments from insurance providers ASR Insurances and KLP, beating its original target of $290m.
TNO Pension Fund, owned by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, also contributed capital, as did German state-owned development bank KfW and the European Union-owned European Investment Fund (EIF).
The fund’s limited partners also included wealth management firm Formuesforvaltning, private equity firm Pantheon Ventures and a range of undisclosed institutional investors based in North America.
Forbion IV will focus on the biopharmaceutical sector, seeking significant stakes primarily in EU-based businesses, though it also expects to allocate some cash to North American deals.
The fund will look to invest in 15 companies, including five to be co-founded by Forbion and 10 existing, growth-stage companies.
Forbion’s previous vehicle, Forbion III , closed at $208m in 2016 with backing from EIF, laboratory services provider Charles River Laboratories and pharmaceutical firm Knight Therapeutics.
Forbion III has achieved four exits to date including the $554m acquisition of RNA therapeutics developer Rigontec by pharmaceutical company Merck & Co in September 2017 which also provided an exit to pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim.
Sander Slootweg, managing partner and co-founder of Forbion, said: “The successful final close for our fourth fund at €360m, effectively doubling the size of our third fund, unlocks the potential for higher deal sizes for Forbion IV, giving us the flexibility to choose between stand-alone and syndicated investments.
“We are seeing clear opportunities for superior returns in European development-stage life sciences companies, a non-cyclical sector marked by an undersupply of investment capital.”
