Bellevue Asset Management: Pureos Bioventures expands fund size to USD 205 million
St. Peter Port, Guernsey / Küsnacht – Pureos Bioventures announces the final closing of its first fund BB Pureos Bioventures LP («Pureos») with a committed capital of USD 205 million. Pureos will exclusively invest in innovative private drug development companies with an emphasis on novel biological drugs and emerging modalities such as nucleic acid, cell- and gene therapies. The fund’s portfolio companies are built on scientific excellence with strong teams to develop therapies across a broad spectrum of indications including oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, rare diseases and neuroscience. The fund invests globally, with a primary focus on Switzerland and Europe. The Pureos team consists of experienced venture capitalists, biotech entrepreneurs and drug developers. With its committed capital, Pureos is the largest institutional Swiss VC fund that solely invests in private biotech companies.
For its first fund, Pureos is building a balanced portfolio of 17-20 pre-clinical and clinical-stage companies. Its initial investments include Alentis Therapeutics AG, AM-Pharma BV, Araris AG, Corlieve Therapeutics SAS, Eyevensys SAS, Imcheck Therapeutics SAS, Lava Therapeutics BV, NovaGo Therapeutics AG, River Renal Corp and Vico Therapeutics BV. In addition, Pureos is a Partner of BaseLaunch, a start-up accelerator in Basel that supports emerging companies with ground-breaking science. In March, Lava Therapeutics went public on NASDAQ (LVTX), representing a first IPO exit in the Pureos portfolio.
Pureos› partners Klaus Breiner, Dominik Escher, Anja Harmeier, and Martin Münchbach stated: «We are extremely pleased with the successful final closing of our first fund with an amount above our initial target. With the entrusted monies, we want to continue to support great teams developing innovative therapeutics for devastating diseases that make a true difference for patients. Our first IPO validates this strategy also from a return perspective for our investors.»
The supporters of the first Pureos fund include strategic partners, such as pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as a large contract manufacturer, family offices, pension funds, fund-of-funds and other institutional investors. (Bellevue Asset Management/mc/ps)
