
LBO France holds EUR 155m final close for Digital Health 2
LBO France has held a EUR 155m final close for Digital Health 2, a fund dedicated to French and western European digital health SMEs.
Digital Health 2 had a EUR 150m target and held a first close in August 2019, according to Unquote Data.
The fund is the successor vehicle of the GP’s SISA (Services Innovants pour les acteurs de la Santé et de l’Autonomie, or Innovative Services for Healthcare and Autonomy) fund, which held a final close in December 2016 on EUR 70m.
LBO France said in a statement that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital health tools, including teleconsultation, remote clinical trial recruitment, and tools for compiling and analysing data for better diagnoses and prognoses.
Further European digital health-focused funds include Heal Capital’s debut fund, as well as MTIP’s second fund and Endeavour Vision’s Medtech Growth II vehicle.
Octopus Ventures registered its debut Healthcare Fund in January 2021, according to Unquote Data, while Earlybird is on the road for its second health fund.
Growth and venture investors including HPE Growth and DN Capital also make investments in the sector from their flagship funds.
Investors
According to a statement, the fund is backed by BPI France, as well as LPs including 15 insurance companies and family offices. LPs in the fund also include corporate venture vehicles such as Orange Digital. Almost all of the strategy’s LPs re-upped for the second fund, according to a statement.
LPs in SISA who are also backing Digital Health 2 include BPI France, as well as insurance companies OCIRP and Malakoff Médéric, according to Unquote Data.
Investments
The fund will invest in digital health companies in France and western Europe, targeting B2B SMEs with fast-growing revenues and investing EUR 5m-20m per deal.
The vehicle aims to back 15 companies in total and has made five investments to date: skincare medical imaging specialist QuantifCare; cellular digital pathology image sharing platform Tribvn Healthcare; smart insoles and gait analysis company FeetMe; drug traceability startup Meditect; and clinical trial patient recruitment software Antidote.
The predecessor fund in the strategy focused on technology-based SMEs that aim to support the independence needs and healthcare of elderly people. The vehicle deployed equity tickets of EUR 2m-10m and intended to back 10-15 companies. Its investments included FittingBox, a virtual reality software platform that allows users to try on glasses; the company was sold to Japan-based eyewear retailer Jins in September 2021.
People
LBO France – Valéry Huot (partner, head of venture); Franck Noiret (venture managing director); Sébastien Woynar (venture investment director).
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