April 13, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
BOSTON, Mass. – Venture capital firm SV Life Sciences has changed its name to SV Health Investors. The company also closed its sixth flagship fund with $400 million.
In total SV Health Investors manages seven funds, including the Dementia Discovery Fund, to support entrepreneurs and companies developing healthcare solutions. The funds managed by SV Health Investors totals more than $2 billion. For more than 20 years, the funds have been used to invest in more than 175 companies, including 10 new companies added within the past 12 months, according to a company statement.
The new fund, SV VI, will have a multi-sector focus when it comes to investment strategies. The firm said the monies in the fund will be used to “support early-stage opportunities in biotechnology; early-stage and revenue-stage opportunities in medical devices; and growth equity opportunities with healthcare services and digital health companies.”
SV Health Investors has had a successful history in backing life science companies. Some of the businesses it has supported with investments include Shire , Incyte , Achillion and Micromet, which was later acquired by Amgen , Endpoints reported this morning. Currently the venture capital firm is supporting companies like Sutro, Kalvista and Catabasis , Endpoints added. The firm currently has 64 different companies in its investment portfolio, BioPharma Dive reported.
The name change was made in order to better reflect the strategy and multi-sector focus the firm has pursued for more than two decades, the company said. SV Health Investors has offices in Boston, San Francisco and London.
Before closing out SV VI, the previous fund, SV V raised $523 million and closed in 2010, the Boston Business Journal reported. One of its funds, a smaller one, is focused on developing non-amyloid therapies for dementia, Endpoints said.
Paul LaViolette, SV Health Investors Managing Partner, said the firm is backing “remarkable entrepreneurs and proven operating executives” who are developing therapies that will improve the lives of patients. Laviolette told the Journal that SV Health Investors’ focus on early stage biotech companies gives the firm the chance to create and launch new ventures from their Cambridge, Mass. offices.
“Over the past 18 months, the firm has increased the size of its team by 30 percent, with the goal of supporting entrepreneurs, portfolio companies and new fund initiatives,” LaViolette said in a statement.
SV Health Investors invests in biotech and medical device companies, as well as digital health and healthcare services firms, the Journal reported. The company currently has about 35 employees.
Venture capital firms play an important role in biotech. Over the first quarter of this year firms have invested $887 million across 55 deals in the industry, BioPharma Dive reported.
