Bio Venture Specialists Advent Life Sciences Banks $235 Million Life Sciences Fund
October 28, 2014
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Advent Life Sciences announced the closing of its Advent Life Sciences Fund II today, a venture capital fund that has raised $235 million to seed and build life science companies in the U.K, U.S. and Europe. The new fund will go toward fueling entrepreneurs, early-stage and mid-stage companies.
"We thank our returning and new limited partners for the strength of their support, which allowed us to raise the commitments for this fund in a matter of weeks" said Raj Parekh, general partner. "The interest from LPs and demand for the fund, particularly in current markets, is in large part a recognition of the scientific and medical entrepreneurs, CEOs and management teams whose commitment, vision and energy is enabling our portfolio companies to bring important medical innovations to patients. It is a privilege to work with them."
The fund was raised entirely from independent financial investors including funds-of-funds, pension funds and family officers. The early and mid-stage companies that receive the money will use it to deliver best-in-class breakthrough products for unmet medical needs.
Advent Life Sciences consists of 11 professionals with scientific, medical and operational experience, dedicated to investing life sciences businesses.
A Rise in Interest in Life Sciences
Venture capital funding for the life sciences sector, which includes biotechnology and medical devices, reached $2.5 billion in the second quarter of 2014, according to a report report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters. This was the highest life sciences investment since the second quarter of 2007, and it was also the strongest quarter since 1995, which is the earliest recorded data from the report.
“The uptick in VC investing in the second quarter is a direct reflection of the activity we’re seeing in the public markets,” said Greg Vlahos, life sciences partner at PwC. “As VCs take advantage of the open initial public offering window and the high valuations in the mergers and acquisitions market to exit, they are putting capital back to work for a new cycle of investments. The competition for dollars among the next generation of life science businesses remains, and businesses looking to attract VC investment need to have compelling stories and a roadmap for their product strategies to showcase their path forward.”
More than $1.8 billion flowed into 122 deals and captured the second largest investment total behind the software industry. The sector saw a 40 percent increase in investment dollars over the previous quarter.