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Healthcare

New VC fund to focus on life sciences

Article Date:  Apr 29 2008 Nick Britton

Fountain Healthcare Partners, a Dublin-headquartered venture capitalist (VC), has closed its inaugural fund at €75 million (£59 million). Most of the money will be invested in the life science sector in Europe, with a primary focus on Ireland.

The fund, which has a second office in New York, is targeting a final close at €100 million.

More than 90 per cent of the capital raised so far is from institutional investors, of which most are based in Ireland. They include government-backed Enterprise Ireland, the National Pension Reserve Fund (of Ireland) and the European Investment Fund.

The fund will invest in companies that have product development programmes with a well-defined route to commercialisation and exit. Its management intends to invest a total of between €500,000 and €7 million per company across several rounds, in conjunction with other life science-focused VC firms.

The Irish government will have invested more than €8 billion between 2000 and 2008 to accelerate development of indigenous science and technology ventures. It intends to invest a further €8.2 billion between 2006 and 2013.

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