Newton Biocapital’s first fund was instrumental in establishing four spinouts and it has raised $57m towards its $172m goal for its second vehicle.
Newton Biocapital, a Belgium-based life sciences venture capital firm, secured €50m ($57m) in capital for its second fund today from limited partners including Belgian sovereign wealth fund SPFI/FPIM as a cornerstone investor.
Several limited partners from the first vehicle have returned for the second fund, though none were identified.
Like its predecessor fund, NBC II will focus on pre-clinical and clinical-stage companies working on therapies for chronic diseases. The firm’s strategy relies on leveraging research in Europe and Japan, and it strictly invests in line with its environmental, social and corporate governance policy.
Although Newton does not explicitly have the creation of spinouts as a mission statement, NBC I was instrumental in establishing four such companies: Epics Therapeutics and ChromaCure, two oncology spinouts of Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB); NeuVasQ Biotechnologies, a neurological disorder drug developer also spun out of ULB; and AbolerIS Pharma, an immunology spinout of CNRS, Inserm and University of Nantes.
Alain Parthoens, managing partner at Newton, said: “We are very pleased with this successful first closing of our new fund, which is made possible through the continued trust and support of our investors and most particularly through the support of SFPI/FPIM (Belgian Sovereign Fund) that served as cornerstone investor.
“Our strong ties to the life sciences ecosystems of both Europe and Japan differentiates our fund from others and unlocks unique opportunities for our portfolio companies through our connections with international investors and pharmaceutical companies.
“By continuing to leverage the synergy between these two complementary regions with NBC II, we will keep supporting value creation for all.”
