Switzerland-based venture capital firm Pureos Bioventures closed a $170m inaugural fund yesterday backed by an unnamed drug manufacturing firm and multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Undisclosed well as a fund-of-funds, institutional investors and family offices have also invested in the fund, which will focus on the biopharmaceutical sector.
Spinouts make up five of seven companies backed by Pureos’s fund to date.
They include liver disease drug developer Alentis Therapeutics, which extends research from University of Strasbourg, Inserm and French National Institutes of Health in addition to healthcare provider Mount Sinai Hospital.
The other spinouts are eye disease therapy developer Eyevensys (Paris Descartes University), cancer drug spinout ImCheck Therapeutics (Institut Paoli-Calmettes), immuno-oncology spinout Lava Therapeutics (Amsterdam University Medical Centers) and brain injury treatment producer NovaGoTherapeutics (University of Zurich).
Pureos’s fund invests in both pre-clinical and clinical-stage assets and is anticipated to assemble 15 to 20 portfolio companies over the course of its lifespan.
While officially having a global investment mandate, Pureos is primarily interested in European markets including Switzerland, focusing on emerging drug modalities such as nucleic acid, cell and gene-based treatments.
In addition to capital, Pureos portfolio companies receive coaching from BaseLaunch, a 15-month accelerator tailored to early-stage drug developers.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.