Novo Holdings participates in oversubscribed closing of BioGeneration Ventures’ €150 million BGV V Fund

BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), a leading early-stage VC in European biopharma, today announces the closing of BGV V at €150 million, its largest fund since launching its first fund in 2006, bringing total funds under management to over €400 million. Novo Holdings participates in the closing, together with new and existing investors.

With the BGV V Fund, BioGeneration Ventures will be building on the successful investment strategy of previous funds: dedication to early-stage ventures and company creation and seeking out therapeutic innovations that stem from truly differentiated science and are supported by convincing experimental data. BGV V expects to invest in approximately 12 companies focusing on drug discovery and development.

BGV portfolio successes include Acerta Pharma, which was acquired by AstraZeneca for approximately $7 billion, and whose lead cancer asset has subsequently become the blockbuster medicine, Calquence®. More recently, BGV announced the acquisition of Synaffix by Lonza for €160 million, including a €100 million upfront cash payment.

Commenting on the investment, Naveed Siddiqi, Senior Partner at Novo Holdings (Venture Investments), said: “We first invested in BGV Fund IV in 2021 and have continued to be impressed with BGV’s track record in company creation and efforts to promote pioneering medical science. As one of the most active direct investors in European life sciences, we are proud to participate in yet another closing with BGV, and we are looking forward to continuing our fruitful collaborating with BGV’s talented team in backing the next generation of entrepreneurs. This investment enables us to better access the high-quality science being discovered and developed, particularly in the Benelux region and Germany, and is a continuation of our strategy to selectively enhance our reach in life sciences hotspots and certain sub-segments around the world through collaborative relationships. The successful closing of the BGV V Fund is a testimony to the flourishing life sciences ecosystem in Europe, in which entrepreneurship and innovation continues to attract capital.”

Companies in the current BGV portfolio include Azafaros, whose clinical candidate focusing on certain rare lysosomal storage disorders in children recently entered into a phase II study; Dualyx, which raised a €40 million financing to progress potential treatments in immunological diseases; and Complement Therapeutics, which received its initial funding from BGV in 2021 and recently raised €72 million in a Series A round to continue the clinical development of its lead product targeting the most common, and currently untreatable, eye-diseases with a novel gene therapy approach.

Edward van Wezel, Managing Partner at BGV, said: “The successful closing of our Fund V demonstrates continued investor confidence in BGV’s strategy of building new companies with the goal of creating transformational treatments and generating superior returns. We are ideally positioned to support our portfolio companies and their founders with the capital and expertise they need to progress projects from discovery to clinical proof-of-concept. We are delighted that several leading global pharmaceutical companies share our conviction in the potential of early-stage European biotechs by investing in BGV V.”

BGV V was oversubscribed, with strong demand from both existing and new investors, with existing investors, Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Holdings and Bristol Myers Squibb further strengthening BGV’s investor base of strategic life sciences and institutional investors. Of the new investors in the fund, 78% were of US origin, all of whom are either large financial institutions or global life sciences companies.

About BGV
BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) is a venture capital company, with a focus on early-stage European biotech companies. With a strong track record of significant financial returns through its investments in healthcare innovations and providing the expertise to build world-class companies, BGV manages over €400 million of funds and invests in areas where true scientific innovations, unmet medical needs, and the potential to demonstrate a significant proof of concept all converge. BGV strives to work with founding teams to progress science and build successful companies and uses its experience to guide progress into clinical trials, leading to successful drug development and value realisation for its investors. BGV applies its expertise in a rigorous process to select the most compelling opportunities with the best prospects for exit.

BGV is the early-stage focused platform partner of Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital fund with €3 billion in capital under management, and is based in Naarden, The Netherlands. For more information, please visit: http://www.biogenerationventures.com.

About Novo Holdings A/S
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seeds, Venture, Growth, and Principal Investments teams, Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development. As of year-end 2022, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 108 billion. www.novoholdings.dk

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation’s mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.
www.novonordiskfonden.dk/en