PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kurma Partners announced the first closing of its Growth Opportunities fund at €160 million. Meeting the demand of the growing maturity of the European biotech and healthtech ecosystem, this new fund, which is targeting €250 million, aims to accelerate the growth of the best European companies in the healthcare sector. For this fund, Kurma Partners has received the support of the European Investment Fund (EIF), Bpifrance1, the Belgian Growth Fund managed by PMV and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity, SFPI, BNP Paribas Fortis and Groupe Pasteur Mutualité. Eurazeo, which recently increased its stake in Kurma Partners, is also an anchor investor in this fund.
With this new fund, Kurma Partners now covers the entire financing spectrum, from company creation to the most advanced phases of development, in the biotech and healthtech sectors in which its teams have recognized expertise. The fund will mainly target unlisted European companies, addressing strong medical needs, in transformation from R&D-stage to being a commercial-stage company. In launching this Growth Fund, Kurma Partners is leveraging the convergence of scientific and sectoral expertise, entrepreneurial know-how and financial capacity. The objective is to invest in around 15 companies.
Rémi Droller and Vanessa Malier, Managing Partners of Kurma Partners commented "The number of European biotech and healthtech companies with products in the final stages of development has been surging in recent years. The launch of the Growth activity will allow us to support the maturity of the European market and to be up to the challenges of companies at the time of their industrial and commercial scale up."
The fund has been granted with the Tibi label making it eligible for the €6 billion mobilized by French institutional investors to accelerate the growth of innovative companies and turn them into national leaders with global ambitions.
To structure the fund and support its growth, Kurma recently strengthened its dedicated team, already composed of Rémi Droller and Vanessa Malier, by welcoming Jean-François Rivassou and Daniel Parera as Partners to operate respectively from its Paris and Munich offices.
The fund will benefit from the expertise of the whole team and in particular that of Philippe Peltier, Managing Partner in charge of early stage healthtech at Kurma, who will join its investment committee.
In addition, Tony Rosenberg, former Novartis Corporate Head of M&A and Licensing and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis Pharma, and Philippe Gallone, Managing Director of Moelis & Company, will join Kurma as Senior Advisors.
1 Bpifrance invests in equity, through the Growth Fund of Funds on behalf of private insurers and La Caisse des Dépôts, and through the Biotech Health Acceleration Fund (FABS), managed on behalf of the State by Bpifrance, as part of the France 2030 plan.