European VC Sofinnova announces €1.2bn for impact and health innovations

VC heavyweight Sofinovva partners, one of the leaders in the European impact space, has announced it has raised €1.2bn ($1.26bn) over the past year. The funds will go towards life science innovation and sustainability projects, the company said in a press release, with dozens of businesses targeted for investment.

“With the new funds, we anticipate supporting 50 to 60 new companies, empowering a new wave of entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s most pressing health and sustainability challenges,” said Sofinnova managing partner Antoine Papiernik.

With offices in Paris, London, and Milan, Sofinnova – which now has over €4bn ($4.2bn) under management and already counts hundreds of European companies in its portfolio – has long been known as a leader in life science investing. Recent investments have included Paris-based Bioptimus, which is building AI models for biological research, as well as Swiss biotech Noema Pharma, which focusses on central nervous system disorders.

Sustainable fuels and meats

Sofinnova also has a major hand in sustainability, particularly biotechnologies. Notable examples include a 2023 investment into French startup Bon Vivant, which produces animal-free dairy proteins, as well as Barcelona plant-based meat startup Novameat.

The firm has also over the years led the charge for scaled-up funds targeting sustainability and fuel alternatives, with a series of funding rounds which brought in hundreds of millions for its subsequent industrial biotech funds, posting what at the time were record numbers.

Sofinnova’s announcement may come as some good news for the global biotech and life sciences sector, amid the gutting of public research budgets in the US, such as those of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which have typically led a lot of the funding in the sector. The sector relies on fundamental research to develop innovative health and biology solutions – which of course means often very long timeframes for development - and with a major source of public funding apparently about to disappear, the ability of more patient private capital to fill the gap is unclear.

The European biotech and research team has also benefitted from NIH funding and will no doubt be anxious about the larger knock-on effects from the budget dismantling. The announcement from Sofinnova then will be fairly welcome.

“All seven of Sofinnova’s investment strategies—from incubation to later-stage growth, spanning biotech, medtech, industrial biotech and digital medicine—have capital to back the next generation of life sciences companies,” said Papiernik.