Led by Thomas Michael Thestrup, the venture arm will invest in areas adjacent to Fresenius' business, including precision nutrition, microbiome research and new healthcare modalities.
Germany-based medical care provider Fresenius has set up a €200m ($227m) corporate venture capital fund and hired Thomas Michael Thestrup from Angelini Ventures to lead the unit.
The new Fresenius fund will be separate to the existing CVC unit running for the past decade under Andreas Wuepper at Fresenius Medical Care, a publicly traded company focusing on treatment of chronic kidney failure, of which Fresenius owns 30.8%.
Fresenius Ventures will invest about €40m per year over the next five years in founders, technologies, and business models from early financing rounds through to the growth stage “adjacent to Fresenius’ existing strategic platforms (Bio)Pharma, MedTech, and Care Provision,” the company said.
Potential investment areas of Fresenius Ventures include precision nutrition, microbiome research, new modalities, and digital care provision.
Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius, said: “Through targeted investments in promising healthcare innovators, we gain early access to breakthrough technologies, new ideas, and entrepreneurial talent. This step enables us to strengthen our innovation capabilities within the healthcare ecosystem and tap into adjacent growth fields while consistently strengthening Fresenius.”
“We offer more than capital: deep operating and regulatory expertise across global markets, coupled with access to the clinical, scientific, and academic ecosystems where real progress happens today,” added Thestrup.
Thestruo was previously senior principal at Angelini Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Italian industrial group Angelini Industries, investing out of a €300m million global fund focusing on investments in biotechnology, digital health, and life sciences. His deals at Angelini Ventures included Therini Bio, NEUmiRNA, Avation Medical, Cour Pharmaceuticals, Nouscom, Cadence Neuroscience, Arclight Therapeutics and Damona Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to Angelini Ventures Thestrup worked for Denmark’s Lundbeck as director of corporate business development and strategy among other companies having received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich.
James Mawson
James Mawson is founder and chief executive of Global Venturing.
