BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading south European venture capital firm Ysios Capital has begun seeking investment in Ysios BioFund II, a 100 million Euro fund that will support life sciences companies with disruptive products, platforms or technologies in the pharmaceutical and medtech and diagnostics segments. The fund, which will target companies in Europe and North America, is the second to be managed by Ysios Capital. Its first 69 million Euro Ysios BioFund I was launched in 2008 and has already distributed capital to its investors in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
“Life sciences continue to be a very attractive sector for specialized investors,” said Joël Jean-Mairet, managing partner at Ysios Capital. “Today’s national healthcare systems face significant and growing challenges, including an aging population, reimbursement challenges and still a very significant number of unmet medical needs. In addition, the pharmaceutical industry still has unsustainable research and development productivity. These challenges create a tremendous opportunity for innovation.”
The Ysios BioFund II portfolio will include up to 15 companies. Like its predecessor Ysios BioFund I, it will co-invest with other specialized international investors and corporate venture funds. Ysios Capital has previously invested in several companies that have achieved financially lucrative exits through acquisitions by brand name healthcare companies including Amgen and St. Jude Medical.
About Ysios Capital
Ysios Capital is an independent venture capital firm providing private equity financing to early through late-stage human healthcare and biotechnology companies with special focus on pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices. Ysios launched its first 69 million Euro fund Ysios BioFund I in 2008. Ysios has invested in 10 companies, and has successfully exited from BioVex (sold to Amgen for up to 1 billion USD) and from Endosense (sold to St. Jude Medical for up to 325 million CHF), and floated adult stem cell therapy company Cellerix on the NYSE Euronext Brussels through a reverse merger with Tigenix. The current active portfolio of Ysios BioFund I includes AM-Pharma (The Netherlands), Cardoz (Sweden), CVRx (United States), Inbiomotion (Spain), Medlumics (Spain), STAT-Diagnostica (Spain) and TIG:BB Tigenix (Belgium). For more information, visit www.ysioscapital.com.