Enterprise Investment Scheme investment manager Deepbridge Capital has deployed over GBP50 million of capital into UK life sciences companies.
The Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS was launched in 2017 as the first life sciences focused EIS fund, providing private investors with access to a portfolio of early-stage investee companies across the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technology and digital healthcare domains.
This capital has been provided UK-wide to 87 companies across the Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS and Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS funds, with investee companies based across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Founded in 2010, Chester-based Deepbridge launched its first EIS fund in the 2013/14 tax year and specialises in providing venture capital to early-stage technology, life sciences and renewable energy companies.
Earlier this year, Deepbridge reported a record year of EIS fund raising, with almost GBP30 million of funds deployed during the 2020/21 tax year across the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS and Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS.
In addition to its EIS funds, Deepbridge also manages the Deepbridge Estate Planning Service, which utilises business relief qualifying renewable energy assets to provide inheritance tax mitigation.
Dr Savvas Neophytou, Partner, Head of Life Sciences at Deepbridge Capital, says: “The global pandemic has seen an increase in investor and financial adviser interest in the life sciences sector. With so much media attention on vaccines, treatments and medical devices, this increase in appetite is perhaps not surprising.
“When setting up Deepbridge’s Life Sciences business after I joined in 2016 , it was with a strong vision that we would invest sizeable funds across a unique mix of biopharma and tech-based solutions for real life medical problems. We are delighted to now have a portfolio of maturing companies that are progressing well, which is affirmed by the levels of co-funding and strategic partners we are helping our companies attract. Our companies are now working in over 30 countries and have operational bases across the globe.
“I firmly believe that investing in life sciences requires specific sector knowledge, which is why we continue to grow our team of domain experts who are focused on supporting our investee companies on their growth journeys. We look forward to providing investors with further good news stories from our portfolio over the coming months.”
Dr Geoff Davison, CEO at Biownow, adds: “The UK life sciences sector continues to be a global leader in innovation, particularly in the start-up and scale-up areas. However these businesses require significant capital to enable them to grow, create jobs and become the healthcare tools and treatments of tomorrow. The Enterprise Investment Scheme is an essential component of this with the likes of Deepbridge, and their supporting financial advisers and private investors, playing a vital role in shaping this critical provision. We look forward to continuing to work with Deepbridge as they pass this fantastic milestone, to support Bionow’s cohort of highly-innovative life sciences companies across the North of England.”
Deepbridge currently consists of 53 team members across offices in Chester, London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Queensland, Australia.
