Sofinnova leads CHF 32m round for ObsEva

Danish venture house Novo and Sofinnova Ventures provided co-investment. 

The financing will be used to boost the development of the firm's compounds in the field of obstetrics. The company is working towards the development of therapies for the prevention and treatment of premature labour. 

The company's founder, Ernest Loumaye, approached Sofinnova Partners prior to the launch of ObsEva to discuss the idea, managing partner Rafaèle Tordjman told unquote". The investor had already backed Loumaye in 2007 in a CHF 36m round for Preglem, which was sold to Gedeon Richter for CHF 445m in 2010. 

Sofinnova began working with ObsEva at the start of 2013, providing seed capital to the firm with c-investment from Loumaye. The latest transaction took around two months to complete, Tordjman said. 

The investment was completed through Sofinnova's seventh fund, which closed on its €240m hard-cap in 2012.

Company
Founded in 2012 and based in Geneva, ObsEva is a biopharmaceutical company focused on women's reproductive medicine. Its main focus is on the development of therapies for premature labour.

At the time of the investment, the firm signed an agreement with fellow Swiss biopharmaceutical company Merck Serono to develop and commercialise certain compounds in obstetrics. Merck Serono took a minority stake in ObsEva as part of the agreement. 

People
Rafaèle Tordjman is managing partner at Sofinnova and worked on the deal.

Advisers
Equity - Homburger, Dieter Gericke (Legal).
Management - Lenz & Staehelin, Guy Vermeil (Legal). 

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• Topics
• DACH
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• Early-stage
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