- Venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners has launched Biovelocita, an investment strategy aimed at setting up and accelerating biotech startups across Europe.
- The venture will utilize a team of seasoned entrepreneurs and investors and collaborate with leading academic institutions to seek innovative ideas and develop future biotech leaders.
Sofinnova Partners, a European venture capital investment firm, has unveiled a new strategy specifically designed to establish and expedite the growth of biotech startups in Europe. Named Biovelocita, the initiative comes as part of a broader plan to stimulate the region’s biotech ecosystem.
The Biovelocita model will deploy a dedicated team whose goal is to provide startups with a sturdy, hands-on framework that encompasses direct management, financial backing, and access to Sofinnova’s widespread infrastructure and network. The team will comprise “serial entrepreneurs and investors” who will join forces with top-tier academic institutions to pinpoint groundbreaking ideas and nurture the upcoming leaders in biotech.
Biovelocita’s concept draws inspiration from BiovelocITA, Italy’s inaugural biotech accelerator, co-founded by Sofinnova Partners, Gabriella Camboni, M.D., and Silvano Spinelli in 2015. Camboni, who co-founded EOS and Novuspharma (later acquired by Clovis Oncology and Cell Therapeutics, respectively), will be a crucial partner in the pan-European venture.
Other key members of the consortium include AdBio Partners founder Matthieu Coutet, former Alchemab CEO Alex Leech, and Zhizhong (Joel) Yao, Ph.D. “To improve and expand our company-creation toolbox, we have amalgamated a cohort of accomplished investors and entrepreneurs who have been in collaboration with Sofinnova for over a decade or more”, stated Sofinnova Partners managing partner Graziano Seghezzi.
Sofinnova Partners which hosts around 80 staff across Paris, London, Milan, and Luxembourg offices oversees $2.5 billion and manages a portfolio of 100 companies. These companies span six business areas, including biotech, medtech, and digital medicine, with the latter recently closing its first $200 million fund in October.
In addition to its ambitious acceleration strategy, Sofinnova has also demonstrated its prowess for driving successful biotech IPOs. The most recent being France’s Abivax, which managed to raise over $235 million from its Nasdaq listing.
