Seventure Partners, one of Europe’s leaders in financing innovation in Life sciences and associated industries, announces the launch of Sport & Performance Capital™, a new fund dedicated to supporting innovation in the sport and wellness industries. With a final target of €80 million, the venture fund will invest in startup companies and growing SMEs furthering physical activity to help promote health and physical fitness.
- Sport & Performance Capital™ to support innovation in sport and wellness industries
- Focus on novel investments at the interface of material sciences, life sciences, nutrition, digital and wearable technologies and apps, and physical equipment and devices
- Leading French bank, Caisse d’Epargne, as cornerstone investor at first close
- Target final close is €80 million
Synergistic with Seventure’s world-renowned Health for Life Capital™ microbiome focused-funds and AVF, its animal health, feed and nutrition fund
Paris, France – 5 July 2019 – Seventure Partners, one of Europe’s leaders in financing innovation in Life sciences and associated industries, announces the launch of Sport & Performance Capital™, a new fund dedicated to supporting innovation in the sport and wellness industries. With a final target of €80 million, the venture fund will invest in startup companies and growing SMEs furthering physical activity to help promote health and physical fitness.
The Fund will help to provide a legacy from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which is supported by Groupe BPCE, Seventure Partners’ ultimate parent group. At first close, Caisse d’Epargne, also part of Groupe BPCE, is a cornerstone investor, alongside other French banks and LPs. Caisse d’Epargne is a major bank player in the field of sports, with a sustainable commitment either to finance companies involved in sports and wellness or to facilitate professional retraining of former athletes with strong expertise in supporting local companies, with both debt and private equity financing.
Created by Seventure Partners, the Sport & Performance Capital™ fund aims to raise €80 million at final close to invest in companies with high growth potential across Europe, with an initial focus on France, selected for their innovation or their specific know-how in the fields of sports and wellness. The Seventure Partners investment team will identify and finance companies developing and providing products or services connected to sports, such as: innovative clothing, new materials for sports practice, equipment, specific food or nutrition products, connected devices, performance tracking tools, physical parameters measurement devices, digital innovations, coaching, development of areas, equipment or events promoting the practice of sports.
With 20 years’ experience financing innovative companies, Seventure Partners has built strong relationships with entrepreneurs and industrial world leaders. Through its innovative Health for Life Capital™ microbiome focused-funds and AVF, its animal health, feed and nutrition fund, the Company has developed a world-wide network in the fields of health, food and nutrition, and digital technologies, key adjacent sectors for the economics of sport.
With the first close, the new fund is ready to start investing, with the ambition of investing in around 15 companies by the start of the Paris Olympic Games in July 2024. It has a 10-year investment horizon to support its portfolio companies through to 2029.
An Advisory Investment Committee will be created, that will consist of Caisses d’Epargne managers, athletes or former athletes, and Seventure Partners’ investment professionals.
The fund was formally launched at a Press Conference in Paris on July 3rd. Speaking at the launch, Isabelle de Crémoux, Seventure Partners CEO and Managing Partner stated: “Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been actively funding innovative European companies, especially within the evolving fields of health, food and nutrition, and digital technologies. The sports industry is being deeply disrupted by innovation and we will work side-by-side with entrepreneurs selected by the fund, providing them full access to our team of investors and their expertise, networks and know-how.”
Alexis Mathieu, CEO and founder of Paris-based Feetme, a Seventure Partners portfolio company, speaking at the fund launch provided an example of the difference the new fund could make, saying: “Our smart wearables technology is proven in the area of physiotherapy and medical applications, but has the potential to provide performance enhancement in many sporting areas such as running and cycling. This exciting new fund provides a potential new source of financial support for entrepreneurs seeking to bring innovation in many aspects of science to the sports and wellness industries.”
Notes To Editors
About Seventure Partners
With €750m net commitments under management as of the end of 2018, Seventure Partners is a leading venture capital firm in Europe. Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been investing in innovative businesses with high growth potential in two fields: Life sciences across Europe, Israel, Asia and North America and Digital technologies in France and Germany.
In Life sciences, the main areas of focus include “classic” approaches such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, diagnostic and medtech, industrial biotechnology, as well as “beyond the pill” approaches such as MICROBIOME-linked innovations, nutrition, foodtech, digital/connected health and personalized medicine.
Investments can range between €500k and €10m per round, or up to €20m per company, from early to late stage.
In March 2018, Seventure Partners launched AVF, a new fund dedicated to animal nutrition, feed and health with Adisseo as strategic partner. In July 2019, it launched Sport & Performance Capital, dedicated to Sport-tech.
Seventure Partners successfully launched Health for Life Capital™ which invests in Life sciences (health, nutrition, digital/connected health…) with a core focus on the microbiome revolution and its applications in human health, nutrition and food.
The €160m first fund launched in 2014 has invested in 20 companies at the forefront of their fields, such as Enterome, Vedanta Biosciences, MaaT Pharma, Eligo Bioscience, LNC Therapeutics, TargEDys, A-Mansia Biotech, BiomX, Microbiotica, Anaeropharma, NeurIMM (renamed LiMM Therapeutics), Siolta Therapeutics, DayTwo, Zipongo, Mdoloris Medical Systems, MycoTechnology, etc.
In January 2019 it launched second fund Health for Life Capital II™ with a target fund size of over €200m.
Health for Life Capital™ funds have attracted strategic investments from prestigious organizations including Danone, Novartis, Lesaffre, Bel, Tereos, Tornier, Unigrains and more recently a US based global food ingredient provider (to be disclosed), as well as entrepreneurs and financial institutions.
For more details: www.seventure.fr/en Twitter: @seventurep
At the Company
Isabelle de Cremoux
CEO and Managing Partner of Seventure Partners
Tel: + 33 1 58 19 22 77
Email: isabelle.decremoux@seventure.fr
In France
Agence Yucatan
Caroline Prince-Albagnac
Tel: +33 1 53 63 27 35
Email: cprince@yucatan.fr
International
Instinctif Partners
Sue Charles / Deborah Bell
Tel: +44 20 7866 7863
Email: seventure@instinctif.com
