Seventure raises €62m towards new life sciences fund

Greg Gille
08 January 2014

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French GP Seventure Partners has held a first close on тЌ62m for Health for Life Capital, a new vehicle with a тЌ120m target.

Seventure is expecting further closings in the coming months as it has received interest from pharmaceutical laboratories, diagnostic corporations and financial institutions.

The GP is understood to have started the fundraising effort in February last year, before reaching this first close in December. This marks the first fund targeting institutional investors raised by Seventure in more than a decade – the VC had previously been focusing on retail funds since 2000.

Investors
The vehicle has so far attracted commitments from corporates, family offices and institutional investors. On the corporate side, LPs include Danone, Tereos and Tornier. Financial players include Seventure sponsor Natixis and investment company Unigrains.

Investments
The life sciences fund will have a specific focus on health nutrition – hence the interest shown by dairy business Danone. Seventure is particularly keen on exploring the opportunities linked to research involving the microbiome, which is the aggregate of micro-organisms present in the human body.

The vehicle will invest predominantly in Europe but will also target North America and Asia.

Seventure usually invests €500,000-10m per round and can commit up to €20m per portfolio company overall.

People
Managing director Isabelle de Cremoux is leading the fundraising effort. She joined Seventure in 2001 to head the GP's life sciences investments.