Seventure led $10M round for new French company focusing on I/O-microbiome and provided $3M seed funding to ErVaccine,
driving an increased I/O microbiome focus in fund portfolio
Paris, France – 9 February 2021 – Seventure Partners, one of Europe’s leaders in financing innovation and a world leader in life science microbiome investment, has made two new investments with its Health for Life Capital II™ fund in the field of immuno-oncology driving an increased I/O microbiome focus in fund portfolio. Last week, French President, Emmanuel Macron, highlighted the importance of this sector by having visited the Institut Gustave Roussy and a microbiome cancer lab.
Initial financing of $10m for newly established French company
Seventure led the initial financing round worth $10M, with North American investors, for a new company founded in France, developing an immuno-oncology-microbiome discovery platform capable of generating a robust pipeline of microbiome-derived molecules (new molecular entities) directed to host targets, for the treatment of cancer. The technology was discovered by leading senior professors at a world-renowned faculty of a leading US university. More information about this company will be disclosed in H2 2021.
ErVaccine seed financing round of $3m
The second investment in the immuno-oncology field was a seed investment of $3M in France-based ErVaccine, a company developing next-generation cancer vaccines targeting endogenous retroviruses and new families of shared neoantigens. As part of its innovative approach, the company incorporates bioinformatics and artificial intelligence into the tumour antigen selection process to help predict the best target in a given tumour.
Immuno-oncology in Health for Life Capital™ Fund portfolio
Health for Life Capital™ I was launched in 2014, as the first fund with a specific focus on microbiome-related investments, with a portfolio that today comprises >20 companies. With microbiome research becoming increasingly important, Seventure has also expanded its investment portfolio to new, emerging areas, such as the microbiome in immuno-oncology. The portfolio includes a number of immuno-oncology companies, including:
“The amount of research being undertaken on the microbiome area has increased exponentially in recent years. Data indicate that the microbiome is likely to have strong links with our immune system. Immuno-oncology is an emerging field where new therapeutics are continuously sought for various indications, and we believe that these microbiome-based approaches can make a significant contribution to the treatment of cancer and other immune diseases and be an answer to an unmet medical need impacting millions of patients,” said Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner, Seventure Partners, who led Health for Life Capital™ fund raising and microbiome strategy.
Seventure’s second Health for Life Capital fund was launched in 2019, and due to significant interest, its final close has been extended until Spring 2021. This second fund is significantly oversubscribed, already exceeding the initial €200m target size and has already made eight investments in the microbiome space.
About Seventure Partners
With €850m net commitments under management as of the end of 2020, Seventure Partners is a leading venture capital firm in Europe. Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been investing in innovative businesses with high growth potential in two fields: Life sciences across Europe, Israel, Asia and North America, and Digital technologies in France and Northern Europe.
In life sciences, the main areas of focus include “classic” approaches such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, diagnostic and medtech, industrial biotechnology, as well as “beyond the pill” approaches such as MICROBIOME-linked innovations, nutrition, foodtech, digital/connected health, wellbeing and personalized medicine & personalized nutrition. Investments can range between €500k and €10m per round, or up to €20m per company, from early to late stage, growth & pre-IPO.
Seventure Partners successfully launched Health for Life Capital™ which invests in Life sciences (health, nutrition, digital/connected health…) with a core focus on the microbiome revolution and its applications in human health, nutrition and food.
In March 2018, Seventure Partners launched AVF, a new fund dedicated to animal nutrition, feed and health with Adisseo as a strategic partner. In July 2019, it launched Sport & Performance Capital, dedicated to innovations in Sport & wellness.
About Health for Life Capital™
Seventure Partners launched Health for Life Capital™, the first venture capital fund focused mainly on investments “beyond the pill” in the microbiome and nutrition space. Europe is the primary focus of the fund, but it also invests in North America, Asia and Israel.
The €160m first fund launched in 2014 has invested in 20 companies at the forefront of their fields, such as Enterome, Vedanta Biosciences, MaaT Pharma, Eligo Bioscience, Ysopia Bioscience, TargEDys, A-Mansia Biotech, BiomX, Microbiotica, LiMM Therapeutics, Siolta Therapeutics, DayTwo, Zipongo (renamed Foodsmart), Cambrooke, Mdoloris Medical Systems, MycoTechnology, etc.
In 2019 it launched second fund Health for Life Capital II™ with a target fund size of over €200m which invested in Axial Therapeutics, BCD, Citryll, Dermala, Ervaccine, Federation Bio, Galecto, etc.
Both first fund and second fund attracted strategic investments from prestigious organizations including Danone, Novartis, two US based global food ingredient providers (to be disclosed), Lesaffre, Tornier, Tereos, Unigrains and Bel, as well as financial institutions, family offices and entrepreneurs.
For more information please contact: seventure@instinctif.com
Melanie Toyne-SewellManaging Partner
Working for healthcare and life science companies and organisations globally, across Europe, US, EMEA, Asia, Oceania.
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