Forbion, a Naarden, The Netherlands and Munich, Germany-based life science venture capital firm, secured its fifth flagship fund, Forbion V, at €460m.
Investors in Forbion V include a mix of existing and new LPs, with both specialized institutional and corporate investors taking part, including Pantheon, Wilshire Associates, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Argentum.
The investment period of the fund will commence in 2021, with the aim of building a portfolio of approximately 15 therapeutics companies, of which at least a third will be companies created by Forbion, so-called ‘Build’ opportunities, around either assets sourced from pharma or academic institutions, or around proven management teams. The remainder of investments by the Fund will be in highly impactful existing companies.
As with its previous funds, Forbion V will primarily focus on Europe comprising approximately 80% of investments, with the remainder of the fund targeting opportunities in North America.
Forbion will target substantial initial stakes of 20-50%, by taking lead positions and working closely with the entrepreneurial management teams to deliver outsized returns for Forbion LPs.
Recent exits include:
- Roche acquired Promedior for up to USD 1.39 billion with an upfront payment of USD 390m.
- Women’s health company, KaNDy Therapeutics was acquired by Bayer for an upfront consideration of USD 425m and significant additional consideration in the form of potential future milestone payments.
- Roche acquired the full rights to the Inflazome portfolio of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors for an upfront payment of EUR 380m plus additional, substantial, payments based on the achievement of certain predetermined milestones, making this a potential ‘fund returner’ for Forbion IV.
- Enterprise Therapeutics’ novel TMEM16A potentiator portfolio was acquired by Roche for an upfront payment of GBP 75m plus significant additional payments based on the achievement of certain predetermined milestones.
- Neuromuscular disease company, Dyne Therapeutics successfully went public on Nasdaq in September of this year after closing a substantial cross-over round in August.
- Recent new investments include: leading the USD 62 million Series A financing round for Prilenia Therapeutics, and the USD 35 million Series B financing round for Inversago Pharma.
Forbion V will be managed by Forbion’s specialized and experienced investment team and supported by a group of Operating Partners, Venture Partners and Advisers.
FinSMEs
09/12/2020