The life sciences European Venture Capital has assets under management of 4 billion euros
Antoine Papiernik
Sofinnova Partners, a Paris-based lifescience European venture capital firm with subsidiaries in London and Milan, said that it raised 1.2 billion euros in 2024 (more than 1 billion in 4Q24) for its platform of investment strategies. The firm’s assets under management are now worth above 4 billion (see here the press release). Sofinnova attracted the resources of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, and family offices.
In 2022, Apollo Global Management, the US private equity giant with assets under management of 513 billion US Dollars, acquired a 20% of Sofinnova Partners and committed to invest up to one billion euros in the platform (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner of Sofinnova Partners, said: “All seven of Sofinnova’s investment strategies, ranging from incubation to phased growth, spanning biotech, medtech, industrial biotech and digital medicine, have capital to invest in the next generation of life science companies. With these new funds, we expect to support between 50 and 60 new companies, supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs tackling some of the most pressing health and sustainability challenges.”
Over the past ten years, Sofinnova built one of the most experienced and globally connected life sciences investment teams in the world. Today, the company has a team of more than 80 professionals, including 25 investment partners. The team spans 24 nationalities in three European offices, with presence in major innovation centres around the world.
Sofinnova recently launched Sofinnova.ai, its proprietary AI tool whose development lasted 5 years. The platform is transforming the way it finds, analyses, invests in and supports science and entrepreneurs. Using advanced data analysis and machine learning, Sofinnova is further strengthening its ability to identify innovation and accelerate the development of pioneering life science companies.
Sofinnova started to operate in Italy 20 years ago and invested more than 50 million euros in biotech firms. Sofinnova Capital Partners VII and VIII also attracted the commitment of Fondo Italiano d’Investimento (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In May 2017, Graziano Seghezzi joined Sofinnova as managing partner (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Seghezzi is also one of the co-founders of BiovelocITA, Italy’s first accelerator for biotech companies (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
In 2018, Sofinnova and Fondazione Telethon launched Sofinnova Telethon, a vehicle for early-stage investments in companies dedicated to research on rare genetic diseases. Paola Pozzi andLucia Faccio head the fund that in April 2020 raised 108 million euros, above the 100 million target (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
