France-based venture capital firm Seventure Partners closed a €160m ($175m) health and nutrition fund on Monday that received funding from pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
Officially launched in December 2013, Health for Life Capital targets companies developing microbiome and nutrition technology. Companies it has so far backed include Enterome, LNC, Maat Pharma, Eligo Bioscience, Targedys and Micropharma.
Novartis joins a partner list already featuring food product supplier Danone, sugar and bioethanol producer Tereos, yeast manufacturer Lesaffre, cheese producer Bel, and prosthesis maker Tornier.
MultiCap Growth funds, managed by French state-owned bank Bpifrance, is also a limited partner in the fund.
Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and managing partner of Seventure, said: “Seventure Partners believes that large worldwide pharmaceutical groups are increasingly interested in the microbiome field in anticipation of finding new ways to conduct research and developing drugs with accompanying diagnostics; especially for infectious and gastrointestinal diseases, and other indications, as well as immuno-oncology approaches.”
Founded in 1997, Seventure is run as a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management, itself a subsidiary of France-based bank Groupe BPCE. It typically invests between €500k and €10m in each round, and up to €20m in each portfolio company.