Advent looking to invest £75M after closing new life sciences fund

Advent Venture Partners has announced the final close of its new £75 million venture capital fund, Advent Life Sciences, which will invest in early- and mid-stage life sciences companies, making 70 per cent of its investments in Europe and 30 per cent in the US.

This is Advent’s first dedicated life sciences fund; although the firm is an important investor in the field, its previous funds have invested in a mixture of life sciences and information and communication technology.

The fund has received £15 million from the public UK Future Technologies Fund, which is managed by the European Investment Fund.

Advent Life Sciences will be managed by General Partners Shahzad Malik and Raj Parekh, who say they will back companies that have a first- or best-in-class approach in a range of sectors within life sciences, including new drug discovery, enabling technologies, medical technology and diagnostics.

Parekh said, “We are pleased to have closed our first life sciences fund at this level in an environment of unprecedented difficulty for raising European venture funds. We appreciate the support that our LPs have shown to the team and the sector, and we look forward to investing this fund at such an opportune time in the cycle.”

Recent Advent investments include Avila Therapeutics, Biocartis, Cellnovo, Respivert, Thiakis, Algeta and Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, in all of which Advent led the formation of the company and/or participated in the first venture round.