Zurich: HS LifeSciences launches new fund for biotech start-ups

Funding opportunity

HS LifeSciences AG of Zurich has launched a new investment fund, QureInvest AG, dedicated to new start-up biotech companies, with an initial CHF 27.5 million (€18.7 million) from an international group of private investors.

QureInvest/HS LifeSciences says it will take a strictly market-driven approach to value creation in biotechnology, closely linking science and business development. This approach is based on experience from successful investments and transactions completed by the HS LifeSciences team, which include U3 Pharma AG and Neurimmune Therapeutics AG.

QureInvest’s aim is to provide its portfolio companies with funding that is independent from traditional venture capital, while helping management teams to find optimum commercialisation opportunities for their technologies and products by tailoring programmes to the needs of pharmaceutical partners.

QureInvest wants to make multi-million dollar investments in innovative, novel technologies or research-stage products, enabling portfolio companies to reach the stage where they can attract a pharmaceutical partner. At the same time, HS LifeSciences will provide business development and deal-making experience.

All development activity will be tailored from the start to comply with pharmaceutical industry standards. CT Atlantic AG, a Zurich-based oncology company focusing on human-derived antibodies, is QureInvest’s first investment.

“We are very excited that we have been able to establish QureInvest AG in these turbulent times,” said Karsten Henco, Chairman and President. “We are particularly happy to have attracted significant investments from experienced private investors who have a realistic view on the risk and time associated with achieving high level returns from biotechnology.”

Edward Stuart, CEO of HS LifeSciences, believes that since 2000 the limitations of the traditional venture capital model – of serial financing rounds involving multiple partners – have become obvious in the biotech sector. “From an operational perspective, it has become increasingly difficult for biotech companies to manage their businesses and focus on rapid, high quality product development [while] trying to engineer an exit for their investors.”

“We are convinced that QureInvest, a semi-evergreen fund with a clear focus on long-term value creation [...] is much better suited to tap the full potential of the biotech industry.”

HS LifeSciences AG is a business development, finance and strategy consultancy based in Zürich, Switzerland, founded in 2008.

Before founding HS LifeSciences, Henco was a co-founder, CEO or founding investor of Qiagen NV, Evotec AG, Coley Pharmaceuticals Inc, U3 Pharma AG and Neurimmune Therapeutics AG, among others, while Stuart held various management positions in European biotech companies, including U3 Pharma AG and Neurimmune Therapeutics AG.