PRINT THIS PAGE Irish firm Fountain holds 75m first closing on maiden life science fund29/04/2008. Source: AltAssets. 
Dublin-headquartered Fountain Healthcare Partners, a spin-out investment team from Elan Corporation's corporate venture capital group, has held a 75m first closing on its inaugural fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners I. The firm initially targeted 40m but later increased the target size of the fund to 100m. It expects a final closing to occur within a year from now. Over 90 per cent of the committed capital came from institutional investors, mainly based in Ireland. Investors in the fund include the European Investment Fund, the National Pension Reserve Fund and Enterprise Ireland. The EIF's investment in Fountain Healthcare Partners I is through the European Union's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). A small number of high-net-worth individuals also participated in the fundraising.
Fountain plans to invest the majority of its capital in Europe, with a particular focus on Ireland. The new fund will invest between 500,000 and 7m per company in sub-sectors including specialty pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics.
Dr Manus Rogan, a founding partner at Fountain, said, 'We have been very pleased with the level and quality of investor participation in the first close. There was clear support for our investment strategy, and we significantly exceeded our original first close target.'
Micheαl Martin TD, Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, added, 'A dynamic and healthy venture capital market is a prerequisite for the growth and development of high potential start-up companies in Ireland. I am delighted to announce the establishment of Fountain Healthcare Partners I, the fourth fund to be established under the Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2007-2012.'
In addition to its Dublin headquarters, Fountain also has an office in New York.
'The purpose of our New York office is to maintain on-the-ground connectivity with the US life-science sector. Specifically, this office will provide our firm and our investee companies access to people, intellectual property, partnering and exit opportunities, syndication capital and deal flow,' Aidan King, Fountain's New York-based partner, explained.
Copyright © 2008 AltAssets
|
