Forbion Secures $1.48 Billion For Its Newest Funds, With Plans To Grow Biotechs

Life sciences venture capital firm Forbion has announced the raising of €1.35 billion ($1.48 billion) across its two latest funds, bringing the war chest across all of its funds to €3 billion ($3.29 billion). 

Both the Forbion Ventures Fund VI and the Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund II were oversubscribed and broke Forbion’s fundraising records. The funds were secured at the hard cap amount of €750 million ($822 million) and €600 million ($657 million) respectively.

Related article: Forbion Looks to Fund IPO Ambitious Companies With Its €470 Million Fund 

Funding Early and Late-Stage Biotechs  

According to Forbion, Fund VI will go into existing biotechs and new co-founded companies created around assets from pharma or academic institutions, or with established management teams. Forbion has noted that Fund VI enjoyed “a strong re-up rate” by existing investors, and also drew in new investors including Dutch pension funds PME and PMT, and Loyola University Chicago. 

Forbion’s portfolio covers over 30 biotechs, including Amphista Therapeutics, a UK-based targeted protein degradation company, enGene, a Montreal-based gene therapy company in the immune-oncology field, and Pheon Therapeutics, a company focused on developing antibody-drug conjugates for cancer. 

Meanwhile, Growth Opportunities Fund II builds on Forbion’s first Growth Fund. This fund will home in on European biopharmas with late-stage assets, with Forbion aiming to lead funding rounds by injecting up to €70 million ($76.7 million) per deal. The fund has attracted institutional investors including Amundi and Legal & General Capital which will join PME and PMT, Pantheon and Eli Lilly and Company. Forbion has revealed that the fund has already made four investments. 

“We are delighted at the success of these two fundraisings, which were oversubscribed against the backdrop of considerable market uncertainty,” said Robbert van de Griendt, a General Partner in Investor Relations and Impact. 

“The high demand from existing and new institutional and corporate investors reflects their confidence in the strong fundamentals of our industry and in Forbion’s ability to provide capital and expertise that enables high-quality life sciences companies to develop new therapeutics that can significantly impact the future of medicine.”

Author

Joy Lin

Without knowledge, there is no imagination. Without imagination, knowledge is meaningless