From left: Fountain Healthcare Partners’ Aidan King, Dr Manus Rogan and Dr Ena Prosser. Image: Nick Bradshaw
New fund from Fountain Healthcare Partners will target European and US life sciences start-ups in areas such as pharma, biotech and medical devices.
Dublin and New York firm Fountain Healthcare Partners has closed its third fund with €118m raised, exceeding its initial €100m target.
Fund III is a dedicated life sciences venture capital fund and brings Fountain Healthcare’s total capital under management to €294m.
‘With almost €300m of capital under management, we are Ireland’s largest dedicated life science venture capital fund’
– DR MANUS ROGAN
“Life sciences continues to be one of the best-performing sectors for investor returns, driven by a consistent stream of IPOs and trade sales,” explained Aidan King, co-founder and managing partner of Fountain Healthcare.
“Strong demand for life science investments is a reflection of investors’ belief in the underlying growth dynamics of the sector and the investment return opportunities presented by innovative life science companies.”
Investing in life sciences
Within the life sciences sector, Fund III will primarily focus on speciality pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices.
Fountain Healthcare will invest a majority of the capital in Fund III within Europe but expects to also make investments in the US market. Fund III is expected to make 10 to 12 investments in predominantly private life sciences companies.
Investors in Fund III include the European Investment Fund, Coolidge Limited (an investment vehicle of Dermot Desmond), the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and AIB.
“Fountain’s investment strategy focuses on building a balanced portfolio of companies with complementary risk and return profiles within the life science sector,” said Dr Manus Rogan, co-founder and managing partner at Fountain Healthcare.
“This strategy has resulted in a strong portfolio of investments for both Fund I and Fund II. The performance of our first and second funds is reflected in both the level and quality of new and existing investor participation in Fund III. With €118m raised, we are also pleased to have exceeded our initial close target of €100m.
“With almost €300m of capital under management, we are Ireland’s largest dedicated life science venture capital fund. We will continue to seek opportunities to identify life science investment opportunities with exciting potential both in Ireland and internationally. Our ability to deploy significant capital together with our proven track record of helping early-stage companies commercialise their potential positions us [as] a partner of choice for ambitious life science growth companies,” said Rogan.
