GLSV II closes on &#8364143m

Dedicated life science investor, Global Life Science Ventures has closed its second fund after raising €143 million from a group of seven existing and nine new investors. The new fund is more than double the size of GLSV’s first offering.

GLSV started fund raising last year with a target of up to €150 million and held a first close at €80 million in May 2001. “The first €80 million was relatively easy to raise from existing investors, the subsequent €63 million was more tedious than anticipated. The events of September 11 also made fund raising more difficult than we thought, ” said Hanns-Peter Wiese, partner at Global Life Science Ventures.

The firm’s investment focus remains the same as when it raised €66 million in 1996. GLSV mainly targets early stage life science companies in Europe, predominantly German speaking countries, and the US. It selects companies that offer superior technological advances to meet medical needs in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and platform companies to medical devices and biotechnology in general.

According to Wiese the opening of two new offices was a result of the company’s organic growth. In addition to its Munich base, GLSV has had a presence in Zug, Switzerland since last August and opened a London office in the spring of 2002.

GLSV has made 18 investments, three of which have been realised. The first fund is three-quarters invested and the new fund has already completed its first two investments in CombinatoRx, a US-based biopharmaceutical company and Xantos Biomedicine in Martinsried, Germany. A third deal, also in Germany, is expected shortly from the second fund.