Lightstone sets up €172m Irish life sciences fund

The firm is also set to open an office in Dublin in conjunction with the establishment of the fund. Lightstone partner Jason Lettman will relocate this summer to head up the new office, which will also act as a European headquarters for the VC.

The fund was originally planning to raise up to $250m. Lightstone was founded in 2012 but has been operating under the radar for the past two years. It was established by investors from US private equity firm Morgenthaler and US venture capital firm Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV).

Investors
Enterprise Ireland committed €20m to the fund, while Ireland's National Pensions Reserve Fund supplied a €10m commitment.

Investors from Morgenthaler's and ATV's funds have also reportedly backed the vehicle, alongside endowments, pension funds and funds-of-funds from Asia, Europe and the US.

Investments
Lightstone Ventures I will seek to make up to five investments in early-stage biotechs per year for the next three years, with 25% of the fund reportedly earmarked for secondary investments and later-stage deals.

The fund has made three investments so far, one of which was in an Irish company. In December last year, Lightstone took part in the series-A funding round for Dublin-based start-up Fire1 alongside New Enterprise Associates and Ireland-headquartered healthcare products company Covidien.

The fund has also invested in Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, which marked Lightstone's first investment and took place in October last year. The US company raised a total of $32m in its series-B round.

Lightstone's third investment to date was in California-based EarLens. The firm took part in EarLens's $40m series-B round alongside New Enterprise Associates and Aisling Capital.

People
Lightstone partner and Morgenthaler partner Jason Lettman will head up the firm's new Dublin office.

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