Business insurance provider Talanx is among the limited partners for a life sciences fund closed by Germany-based venture firm Wellington Partners at €210m ($234m) today.
Wellington Partners Life Science Fund (WPLS) V also secured contributions from European Investment Fund (EIF), European Investment Bank, the German state-owned KfW Capital and Utimco, a joint investment company of University of Texas and Texas A&M University.
Several undisclosed family offices and trusts, which had backed previous Wellington funds, also committed capital.
Wellington Partners is stage-agnostic and typically invests between $2m and $23m in each portfolio company. The firm has backed 46 life sciences businesses to date.
WPLS-V will invest in between 15 and 20 companies, targeting segments such as biotech, therapeutics and medical devices. The fund will mainly operate in German-speaking countries while potentially making select investments in North America and Asia.
The firm’s exits include Rigontec, an RNA therapeutics spinout of University of Bonn that was acquired by pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co for $554m in a 2017 deal that allowed corporate investor Boehringer Ingelheim to exit.
Regina Hodits, managing partner of Wellington, said: “We are seeing clear opportunities for superior returns from investing in pioneering European life sciences companies.
“Given the world-leading innovation ecosystem in Europe, particularly in the German-speaking region, paired with a scarcity of qualified financial investors operating in the European life science arena, we have already identified significant opportunities for WPLS-V.”
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.