Sofinnova Partners Launch MD Start III Medtech Acceleration Fund at €48M
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This is the third vehicle of the MD Start family, which was founded
10 years ago -
MD Start focuses on sourcing medtech innovations at their earliest
stages and creating and building world-class medical device companies -
Key institutional and corporate investors have contributed to the
Fund
PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm specialized
in Life Sciences, announced today the launch of MD Start III, which
closed above its original target of €40 million. With this new medtech
acceleration fund, Sofinnova Partners continues to reinforce its
coverage across the Life Sciences sector, with funds operated by
dedicated teams investing from seed to late stage.
MD Start was created 10 years ago by Sofinnova Partners and serial
medtech entrepreneurs close to Sofinnova. It also had the early support
of corporate leader Medtronic. Its first two vintages were raised as
independent companies and served to prove the model for seeding and
accelerating groundbreaking therapeutic medical device projects. As a
result, MD Start created seven new companies. For this third,
collaborative vintage, the MD Start team will operate as a fund managed
by Sofinnova Partners.
“We are thrilled to be announcing this new vintage of MD Start now under
the Sofinnova Partners’ umbrella, with an ambitious mission of bringing
new therapeutic devices to patients in need, leveraging the expertise of
our founding contributors and providing financial, managerial,
operational and strategic resources to our newly formed companies,” said
Anne Osdoit, Partner in charge of MD Start III.
MD Start has a unique business model. It sources medtech innovations at
their origin, when they are still concepts, and works with clinicians to
develop their inventions into companies. MD Start’s team is made up of
seasoned medtech operators practiced in catalyzing early stage
opportunities, accelerating their development and translating them to
the clinic. It provides both the seed funding and the operational
manpower to develop outstanding medtech projects into companies with
strong fundamentals. This approach enables MD Start to bring to market
innovative treatments addressing major unmet medical needs. It also
allows for systematic de-risking of disruptive medtech projects in all
key areas: clinical need and market sizing, intellectual property,
technical feasibility, pre-clinical validation, regulatory and market
access pathways – and ultimately initial clinical experience in patients.
“With the launch of MD Start III, Sofinnova Partners continues
its unique life sciences strategy,” said Antoine Papiernik,
Chairman of Sofinnova Partners. “Medtech has been a very successful
component of our healthcare track record, with leading portfolio
companies like Corevalve, Recor and Shockwave, and we are determined to
continue founding future leaders in this field. MD Start’s acceleration
model is now refined, and is a key piece of our strategy to invest
across the entire life sciences value chain.”
MD Start III is fortunate to receive strong support from returning
investors Bpifrance – through the French Tech Acceleration fund –,
Medtronic, LivaNova, and several new investors including the European
Investment Fund (EIF) and Baxter Healthcare Corporation. Additionally,
it is supported by a number of world-renowned serial medtech
entrepreneurs, all contributing significant resources and expertise.
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm
specialized in Life Sciences. Headquartered in Paris, France, the firm
brings together a team of professionals from all over Europe, the U.S.
and China. The firm focuses on paradigm shifting technologies alongside
visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners seeks to invest as a lead
investor in start-ups and corporate spin-offs and has backed nearly 500
companies over more than 45 years, creating market leaders around the
globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management.
For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com
Contacts
Media Contact:
Kate Barrette
RooneyPartners
LLC
kbarrette@rooneyco.com
+1.212.223.0561