Venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners has held the first closing of Sofinnova Industrial Biotech I at EUR106 million.
The fund, dedicated to renewable chemistry, follows a series of nine investments in the sector since 2009.
Sofinnova IB I will be invested in start-ups along the value chain from the transformation of renewable raw materials, like agricultural waste or C02, to renewable end-products such as bio-plastics and other bio-sourced materials. It will equally look at technologies coming from advances in synthetic biology and alike.
The investment thesis is based on growing market demand for innovative, renewable products leveraging non-fossil raw materials and novel technologies to produce better performing or cheaper, sustainable alternatives.
Pursuing the strategy applied consistently over the years with previous funds, Sofinnova Partners will seek to invest Sofinnova IB I as a founding and lead investor in start-ups and corporate spin-offs in Europe and North America. The focus of the fund will consist in backing entrepreneurs aiming at developing paradigm changing innovations from lab to the end users market.
Sofinnova IB I will seek to invest in eight to 10 companies during the next three to four years. It will leverage an experienced and dedicated team, initially composed of Denis Lucquin, managing partner, Joško Bobanović, partner, and Michael Krel, principal.
The first closing attracted predominantly European institutions and international industrial players, from energy, chemical and agricultural sectors, including several returning investors from the seed fund raised in 2012 in the same sector: Sofinnova Green Seed Fund.
Lucquin says: “We are very pleased with the success of this first closing. The experience accumulated since 2009 resonated well with the investors. With investments in the sector ranging from Avantium, developing an entirely bio-based plastic bottle and now planning an IPO on Euronext, to the most recent DNA Script, revolutionising DNA synthesis, Sofinnova Partners stands as a pioneer investor, benefitting from an acute understanding of the dynamics at work in this emerging sector. With establishment of this entirely dedicated fund, we have reached today a further important step in our development in industrial biotech.”
