Ysios Capital closes third fund on €216m

Alessia Argentieri
26 May 2021

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Ysios Capital, a Spanish venture capital firm dedicated to the biotechnology sector, has closed its third fund, Ysios BioFund III (YBF III), on €216m, exceeding its initial target.

The fund was launched in 2020 with a €200m target and held a first close on €155m in June 2020. It is larger than its predecessor, Ysios BioFund II, which closed on €126.4m in October 2016 and is currently fully deployed across 14 companies.

"Our fundraising has benefited from the interest and attention that has arisen around biotech during the pandemic," Karen Wagner, managing partner at Ysios, told Unquote. "We have received commitments from both previous LPs that have recognised the success of our strategy and new investors, attracted to our long-term commitment to bring medical products from lab to market."

Ysios provides private equity financing to early- and mid-stage, highly innovative life sciences companies that develop disruptive therapeutic products and platform technologies to address medical needs.

The firm was founded in 2008 and manages around €400m in assets through its three funds. Its team has 15 investment professionals, five venture partners and two operational partners, working from offices in San Sebastián and Barcelona.

Since its inception, Ysios has invested in 33 companies and brought 14 innovative medical products to market. Currently, 40 medical products across the portfolio are at the clinical stage for serious diseases and €1bn has been invested in R&D.

Investors
YBF III has built a large investor base, attracting institutional investors from Spain and the rest of Europe, including funds-of-funds and insurance companies, as well as several family offices.

Its LP base includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), which initially invested €30m and subsequently committed an additional €30m to the fund, providing around 27.7% of the fund's total commitments.

YBF III achieved a high re-up rate of around 60%, raising large commitments from numerous previous investors. LPs from previous funds who are participating often doubled their commitments.

Investments
YBF III provides seed, early-stage and development-stage investments to entrepreneurial businesses that develop novel and disruptive therapies for indications with high unmet medical need.

"We plan to ink between one to three more deals before the end of the year," Joël Jean-Mairet, managing partner at Ysios told Unquote. "In 12-24 months our portfolio will be fully built and we will be preparing the launch of our fourth fund, to continue the deployment of our successful investment strategy, which focuses on fuelling the expansion of biotech companies developing innovative solutions for human health."

The fund invests across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiology, the central nervous system, and rare diseases. It usually leads or co-leads the rounds, with initial investments in the €5-10m range and up to a maximum of €20m to deploy over the entire lifecycle of the investment. The fund may also invest in up to three seed rounds committing smaller amounts.

YBF III intends to invest in up to 15 companies. Around 80% of the fund's capital will be invested in Europe, with a special focus on Spain, while the remainder will be deployed in investment opportunities across North America.

The vehicle's investment strategy focuses on building sustainable companies with business models able to offer dual paths to liquidity.

The fund has already committed almost 50% of its capital across eight companies.

It has invested in a €30m series-A round for Spanish oncology specialist Ona Therapeutics; a seed round for Spanish gene therapy company SpliceBio; a €32m series-B round for Dutch company VarmX; a €70m series-C round for Netherlands-based T-cell cancer therapy company Lava Therapeutics, which has recently floated on Nasdaq; a €44.5m series-A2 round for French gene therapy business SparingVision; a CHF 24m series-A investment for central nervous system disorders specialist Synendos; a €51m series-A round for Danish oncology business Adcendo; and a €38m series-A round for Denmark-based inflammation specialist Cytoki.