Paris-based Kurma Partners, an asset manager focused on improving human health, announced that it has raised €140 million, successfully completing the first closing of Biofund IV. Kurma aims to have raised a total of €250 million in its newest and largest venture capital investment fund to date by the final closing in 2025.
Biofund IV targets 16 to 20 new investments, of which the first three have been made. Like its predecessors, Biofund IV will be dedicated to companies developing innovative therapeutics, aiming for a balanced, risk-managed strategy, with investments for company creation as well as in established venture-stage companies. Kurma remains thematically agnostic and will continue to opportunistically pursue the forefront of innovation, to identify and create future industry trends.
Thierry Laugel, Kurma Partners’ co-founder and Managing Director, said: “Access to exceptional science and the best industry capabilities is at the heart of what we do. Bridging academia, industry and fellow investors, we work to positively impact Europe’s health innovation ecosystem and human health on a global scale.”
Biofund IV will follow Kurma’s proven collaborative approach, actively engaging academic scientists with ground-breaking science and selectively leveraging Kurma’s carefully curated networks of experienced industry professionals to create synergies so its companies thrive. Kurma also leverages its different investment funds to further support its best portfolio companies as they mature. Three investments have already been made from Biofund IV, in autoimmune company SciRhom, natural immunity inspired Memo Therapeutics and cancer immunotherapeutics company Avidicure.
Daniel OLIVE, MD, PhD, Head of the Immunity and Cancer lab, CRCM, and Professor of Immunology and Director of the Oncology Research Programs at Aix Marseille University, who is a scientific founder of two Kurma Biofund III portfolio companies, added: “After founding together with Kurma both Imcheck Therapeutics in 2018 and Emergence Therapeutics in 2021, I can say from my first-hand experience that the Kurma team is gifted in their ability to translate promising science into industrial success. I believe both our companies will serve as examples of how academic research, when properly developed, can lead to tangible and important impacts on human health. We were so pleased with the successful evolution of Emergence and are working towards exciting horizons with Imcheck.”
Three acquisitions from the Biofund III portfolio exemplify the value created by Kurma’s active engagement and collaboration with portfolio companies: the acquisition of rare endocrine disease company Amolyt Pharma by AstraZeneca; antibody drug conjugate cancer company Emergence Therapeutics by Eli Lilly and rare epilepsy company Corlieve Therapeutics by UniQure.
With demonstrated success of Kurma’s venture model, Biofund IV attracted investment of cornerstone investors Eurazeo, returning investor Bpifrance and pharmaceutical industry investor CSL, along with other undisclosed participating limited partners.
Olivier Millet, Member of the Executive Board and Managing Partner – Small-mid buyout & Nov Santé, Eurazeo, commented: “With its recent portfolio company trade sales, Kurma Partners has once again demonstrated its expertise in transforming science into marketable products. Eurazeo’s participation in this new fund demonstrates our confidence in the Kurma team. Our strengthened commitment and mission of supporting healthcare innovation – from inception to maturity – is clear, with €4 billion out of €35 billion under management allocated to healthcare and invested across multiple funds pursuing complementary strategies, from company creation to more mature development stages (growth, capdev, buy-out), our strengthened commitment and mission of supporting healthcare innovation is clear.”
Rémi Droller, Managing Director of Kurma Partners, added: “We welcome the continued support of returning cornerstone investors, Eurazeo and Bpifrance, together with our new cornerstone pharmaceutical industry investor CSL. We are excited with the launch of Biofund IV and confident that we will continue to generate positive returns for investors and make a real impact for human health.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/10/kurma-partners-raises-e140-million-first-close-of-new-e250-million-biofund-iv/
