Eir Ventures, a new Nordic life science venture fund, is launched to leverage the untapped potential of health care innovation. Novo Holdings has taken part in the fund’s first close of EUR 76 million.

Eir Ventures, a Nordic life science venture fund, today announced a first close of its new fund of EUR 76 million. With a strong base in the Nordic region and a team of experienced life science investors, Eir Ventures will invest in innovative companies with products and technologies addressing significant unmet medical need and a potential to improve the life of patients.

The fund is launched with support from a strong investor syndicate comprising Saminvest, the European Investment Fund (EIF), Vækstfonden, Novo Holdings, as well as additional private investors.

“Novo Seeds has been investing in the Nordic life science industry for more than 10 years, and we have seen steady growth in number and quality of investment opportunities. We are therefore very excited to be one of the founding investors of Eir Ventures. In addition to making a profitable fund investment, we look forward to working with the team to translate more Nordic innovation to startups,” said Søren Møller, Managing Partner for Novo Seeds, the early stage investment arm of Novo Holdings.

Eir Ventures has been set up by an experienced and successful team of life science investors: Dr Magnus Persson, Stephan Christgau, Andreas Segerros are the Managing partners, and Amanda Hayward is special partner. It has offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Eir Ventures will invest in high return potential opportunities in the Nordics, Europe and the US. The fund will have a particular focus on innovations from the leading universities and incubators in the Nordics and has established collaborations with select Nordic Universities.

Dr Magnus Persson, Managing Partner of Eir Ventures, commented, “In the current environment, where financing has become even more sparse and startups are struggling to fund development, healthcare innovation is more important than ever. We see great potential to bring some of the highly innovative treatments to patients with underserved medical needs, while also bringing outstanding returns to our investors.”

Stephan Christgau, Managing Partner of Eir Ventures, added, “The Nordic region is ranked year after year as one of the most innovative areas in Europe, with a stable business environment and a successful track record of medical innovation and world class science.  However, the region is severely underserved with professional venture capital. Eir Ventures sees this as a unique opportunity that it will leverage.”