Wellington Partners, a leading European venture capital firm investing in early- and growth-stage life science companies, today announced the final close of its fifth-generation fund Wellington Partners Life Science Fund V (WPLS-V). The fund closed at €210m, making it the largest life science dedicated fund raised by Wellington Partners to date.
WPLS-V will build a portfolio of approximately 15 to 20 companies, ranging in focus from novel biotechnology platforms, new therapeutics and medical devices, including selected investments in diagnostics and digital medicine. Like its predecessor fund, WPLS-IV, the new fund will primarily target opportunities in Europe with a particular focus on German speaking areas but will also selectively consider opportunities in North America or Asia. All of the fund’s investments will target substantial improvements to current medical practice for the benefit of patients, practitioners, and payors alike.
WPLS-V attracted international investment from new blue-chip investors including KfW Capital, Talanx and US-based UTIMCO, the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Company. Existing investors European Investment Fund and the European Investment bank also participated in the fund.
Regina Hodits, Managing Partner of Wellington Partners said, “The successful final close for Wellington Partners Life Science Fund V at €210m, more than double the size of our previous fund, is testament to investor appetite for our specialist investment strategy and to our team’s unrivalled experience and long-standing track record in European life science investing.
“We are seeing clear opportunities for superior returns from investing in pioneering European life sciences companies. Given the world-leading innovation ecosystem in Europe, particularly in the German speaking region, paired with a scarcity of qualified financial investors operating in the European life science arena, we have already identified significant opportunities for WPLS-V.”
Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner of Wellington Partners added, “Wellington Partners has been delivering outstanding returns to investors for more than 20-years. Across all four previous life science fund generations our investment strategy has addressed major unmet medical needs with highly innovative products. The new fund will allow us to continue this proven and successful investment strategy on a larger scale.
Attracting both new and existing international blue-chip investors to the fund demonstrates the calibre of our investment strategy and we are particularly pleased to welcome new investors UTIMCO, KfW Capital and Talanx. We are also grateful for the continued support from our existing investors European Investment Fund and the European Investment bank, as well as several family offices and trusts, who substantially increased their commitments.”
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