Vesalius Biocapital III Announces Significant Investment from the European Investment Fund

Luxembourg-Bertrange, January 17^th, 2019 – Vesalius Biocapital III, the specialist life sciences venture capital investor, announces an investment of €30 million by the European Investment Fund (EIF). This secures commitments of €110 million to date. Until the final closing, scheduled for end April 2019, Vesalius Biocapital III will accept new investors on a “rolling closing” basis. The fund will invest in later-stage European life sciences companies, providing capital to support their development. Vesalius Biocapital III has executed three investments to date.

Commenting on the significant investment by the EIF, Guy Geldhof, Managing Partner at Vesalius Biocapital III, said: “We are very pleased to have received this strong endorsement from the European Investment Fund. Our goal has been to support innovative start-up and scale-up companies across Europe which is aligned with the EIF objectives of supporting innovation, R&D, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.”

Marc Lohrmann, Managing Partner at Vesalius Biocapital III, added: “We welcome the investment from EIF in VBC III. The fund has already made investments in promising companies. This new investment supports our efforts to promote pioneering science and entrepreneurs across life sciences - drug development, medtech, diagnostics and digital health - to create successful companies by backing them for the long-term.”

Pier Luigi Gilibert, Chief Executive of EIF added: “Vesalius Biocapital has a strong track record in supporting European life sciences companies and we are delighted that our investment will help the fund reach out to the next generation of innovative businesses. The EIF’s €30 million commitment will help the team to execute on its strategy with an appropriate fund size – delivering additional funding for therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics and digital health companies.”

Vesalius Biocapital III, launched in April 2017, targets later-stage European life science companies in drug development, medtech, diagnostics and digital health with the goal of investing in 10-15 companies over the lifetime of the fund.

CONTACTS

Vesalius Biocapital III Partners S.à r.l.

Marc Lohrmann
Email: m.lohrmann@vesaliusbiocapital.com

Stéphane Verdood
Email: s.verdood@vesaliusbiocapital.com

Media enquiries
Optimum Strategic Communications
Supriya Mathur, Mary Clark, Ellie Blackwell
Tel: +44 (0) 203 9509144
Email: healthcare@optimumcomms.com

EIF: 
David Yormesor
Tel: +352 42 66 88 346
Email: d.yormesor@eif.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT VESALIUS BIOCAPITAL

Vesalius Biocapital, the specialist life sciences venture capital investor, has supported companies active in human health through venture capital funds since 2007. In the eleven years since inception, Vesalius Biocapital has raised over EUR 150 million in its first two funds, Vesalius Biocapital I and II, and contributed in the development of over 20 companies.

The investment portfolio is well balanced between drug development and non-drug development investments and committed to providing capital to science-backed innovation and ambitious entrepreneurs, with a strong focus on exit within five years.

The specialist team consists of seasoned life science professionals with healthcare industry, corporate finance and strategy consulting experience, supporting companies through their growth cycle. The team is based in Europe and explores investment opportunities and valuation potential for the portfolio.

Vesalius Biocapital III, launched in April 2017 and currently standing above EUR 110m million, targets later-stage European life science companies in drug development, medtech, diagnostics and digital health. For more information on the fund, please visit: https://www.vesaliusbiocapital-3.com

ABOUT EIF

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments, which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. For more information on EIF, please visit: http://www.eif.org/