Biotechnology-focused venture capital firm Kurma Partners has closed a new fund with €215 million (about $252 million) in fresh capital to deploy across up to 20 young companies in the life sciences.
Paris-based Kurma said its new fund is its fourth and largest, topping the firm’s third fund, which totaled €160 million (about $186 million). But the latest fund’s total is short of the €250 million (about $292 million) target Kurma set when it announced the fund’s first close in 2024.
Kurma said the new fund will support investments in companies focused on discovery and development of “disruptive therapeutic solutions for severe or incurable diseases.” On its website, Kurma says about 80% of Biofund IV will be invested in its portfolio companies developing new therapies. Up to half of the fund’s investments will go to companies established by the management company or ArgoBio Studio, a startup launchpad co-founded by Kurma and Bpifrance.
Kurma was founded in 2009. Investments from the firm’s third fund have led to three exits: the 2021 acquisition of Corlieve Therapeutics by uniQure, Eli Lilly’s 2023 acquisition of Emergence Therapeutics, and AstraZeneca’s 2024 buyout of Amolyt Pharma.
In 2021, Eurazeo acquired a majority stake in Kurma. Last year, that investment firm acquired the remaining Kurma shares. In its most recent financial report, publicly traded Eurazeo said its assets under management totaled €39 billion (about $45.6 billion).
Eurazeo is one of the investors in the new Kurma fund. Kurma said the fund’s three “cornerstone investors” are Australian biotech company CSL Limited, the European Investment Fund, and Bpifrance. Kurma said other entities putting cash into the new fund include European institutional investors and family offices.
The Kurma portfolio currently lists close to 60 companies working in areas such as autoimmune disease, cancer, heart disease, and respiratory conditions. Kurma said the new fund has already invested in 11 companies. Most of them are based in Europe, but Kurma notes on its website that it also invests in other regions. For example, earlier this year Kurma participated in the Series A financing of obesity drug developer Alveus Therapeutics, a startup that splits its operations between Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
With the close of the new fund, Kurma said its assets under management now total €1 billion (about $1.1 billion). In the Thursday announcement of the fund close, Kurma Managing Partners Thierry Laugel and Rémi Droller said the latest close reflects investor trust in the firm’s investment model.
“With Biofund IV and Argobio Studio, we now possess a unique capacity in Europe to identify world-class academic science, transform it into globally competitive biotechnology companies, and support them through to full maturity,” they said.
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