VCoE to make €1.7b available for life science investment

During the first day of the Health Tech Innovation Days event in Paris, France, Alain Godard, European Investment Fund CEO; Jan-Philipp Beck, EIT Health CEO; and Jean-Marc Bourez EIT Health France Managing Director, announced that the Venture Centre of Excellence (VCoE) would make 1.7b euros available to support investment in life sciences in Europe.

Since launching in 2020, the VCoE has secured the support of the European Commission in the form of EUR 150m anchor investment into the 15-year programme, and now welcomes new selected VC funds and corporate members. Now fully operational, vetted European life science start-ups can benefit from exposure and engagement with the VCoE members to seek investment.

“In the past year, much has been achieved, namely the onboarding of the first VCoE members, and here at HTID 2021 the hosting of the first members’ meeting. The VCoE is therefore fully operational, with the team in place in partnership with our EIF colleagues in Luxembourg. It is already supporting the first start-ups that have been vetted by EIT Health and who are therefore being promoted to VCoE members,” said Jean-Marc Bourez, Managing Director of EIT Health France.

The VC funds that have joined to date represent significant investment capabilities, and a balanced sector focus across therapeutics, medtech, and digital health, and a wide range of maturity stages and geographic expertise. The addition of the corporate members further complements the VCoE, boosting the flow of investment directed towards European life science SMEs and Small Mid-Caps by matching fund managers with pharma & medtech corporates and other interested strategic investors. Those joining the VCoE at this stage include:

• Ysios Biofund III
• Panakes II Fund Purple
• 415 Capital
• Asabys Partner II
• Andera Partners Biodiscovery 6
• MTIP II
• EIR Venture
• Jeito Fund
• Alphabet
• Institut Mérieux

The VCoE members will continue to grow over the coming months to reach its full size, namely 15-20 selected VC funds and 15-20 corporates, representing a broad portfolio of over 200 SMEs across life sciences including therapeutics, med-tech, digital health, and diagnostics.

Through the VCoE, members join an exclusive community of selected venture capital funds and private investors thereby boosting the flow of investment directed towards European life science start-ups, SMEs, and Small Mid-Caps by matching fund managers with pharma corporates and other interested strategic investors. The VCoE addresses the specific interest of its members to access open innovation, by increasing their co-investment capabilities and opportunities for strategic collaborations in highly innovative European life science start-ups. Programme members will be able to share these start-ups themselves, and EIT Health will also vet start-ups from its network to present to members, including thanks to an exclusive artificial intelligence-based platform developed by Skopai, the VCoE’s technical partner.

Find out more about the VCoE.