Sofinnova Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan, announced that it has successfully closed Sofinnova Digital Medicine I Fund at €190M, surpassing its target.
Led by Partners Edward Kliphuis and Simon Turner, the fund supports innovative entrepreneurs navigating the convergence of biology, data, and computation. Since its launch, the fund says it has already invested in five groundbreaking companies.
Antoine Papiernik, Sofinnova’s Chairman and Managing Partner, says, “The successful closing of Sofinnova Digital Medicine I above its target size marks yet another milestone in our growth as a global firm fostering disruptive innovations in life sciences.”
“This newest fund in our platform of investment strategies is a testament to the trust our limited partners place in our vision and to Sofinnova’s longstanding commitment to shaping the future of healthcare,” adds Papiernik.
Brief about Sofinnova Partners
Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners claims to have supported over 500 companies, creating global market leaders. The firm actively engages in hands-on company building, from seed funding to later stages, and collaborates with entrepreneurs to develop transformative innovations.
Currently managing over €2.5B, Sofinnova aims to positively impact the future through innovative investments.
What to expect from the new fund?
Sofinnova Partners’ Digital Medicine Strategy arrives during a crucial period of transformation in the healthcare sector driven by digital advancements. The firm’s new fund focuses on three key areas: enabling technologies, analytics, and treatment.
It offers entrepreneurs financial support, expertise, and extensive healthcare networks, enabling them to tackle global healthcare challenges and improve patient outcomes on a global scale.
Sofinnova Digital Medicine recently added two companies to its portfolio:
L’école AI: The company offers ‘machine teaching’ technology, making deploying deep-learning systems for computer vision in life sciences applications easier.
Betteromics: Known as the ‘Omics AI Cloud’, Betteromics integrates diverse health and omics data into a unified, certified SaaS platform. The company was founded by experts from GRAIL, Verily, and Google’s Search Knowledge Graph.
Edward Kliphuis, Partner at Sofinnova, says, “In just a few months since launching this strategy, we’ve executed five investments into transformative companies, including Kiro BioCorteX, deepc, L’école AI and Betteromics, which are fusing state-of-the-art computational methods with advanced biological innovations.”
“Leveraging our expertise and network, we serve as allies to digital medicine pioneers, enabling them to secure product-market fit and scale on a global stage,” says Kliphuis.
Simon Turner, Partner at Sofinnova, adds, “We bring Sofinnova’s deep healthcare expertise to entrepreneurs pioneering at the forefront of digital medicine where biology meets tech-industry approaches like rapid product iteration and accelerated commercialisation.”
“Our goal is to support innovators developing disruptive solutions for patients and health systems,” adds Turner.
L’école AI raises $3M seed funding
Besides the new fund, Sofinnova also announced that it has invested $3M (approximately €2.84M) in L’école AI, the creator of ÉO – a “machine teaching” technology that removes the engineering complexity around deep-learning systems for computer vision.
The round also saw participation from business angels, including Preston-Werner Ventures, the fund started by co-founder and former CEO of GitHub, Tom Preston-Werner.
L’école AI says it will use the funds to develop its specialised AI technology for medical professionals and researchers. This technology enables the customisation of AI systems based on individual expertise.
The funding will also help the startup to expand its team, hasten product development, and strengthen business initiatives.
L’école AI was founded by Jonathan Alexander Brown, Louis-Alexandre Etezad-Heydari and Kim Nilsson.
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