RocheRoche, the Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company, has become a leader among companies in the relatively new and fast-growing Health Diagnostics sector. In terms of investments, Roche, through the Roche Venture Fund, is one of the most active companies in the sector, having made 85 investments and 20 exits to date. Its latest investment, announced on 10 January 2020, has been in the company Aligos Therapeutics.
The "Health Diagnostics" sector includes all companies dedicated to the development of techniques and instruments that facilitate the early diagnosis of pathologies and/or diseases and enable action to be taken against them as soon as possible. As already mentioned in previous posts published, technological progress, the application of artificial intelligence in medicine and the rise of biotechnology have enabled strong growth in this sector in recent years, and although it could be said that it is a relatively new market, there are certain companies, such as Roche, that have managed to stand out and grow above the rest.
THE COMPANY
Roche AG is a multinational healthcare company operating globally under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. It is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.
Today, it is the leading pharmaceutical company in the market, with a turnover of almost €50 billion and a net profit of €9.5 billion in 2018. In addition, it increased its turnover by 7% and profit by 23% over the previous year.
It is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerland's leading stock exchange.
INVESTMENTS MADE BY ROCHE
One of Roche's most recent investments has been in Spanish startup Minoryx Therapeutics, which has closed a €21.3 million Series B round of Early Stage financing with a minority stake. Minoryx is an innovative company dedicated to the research and development of treatments for genetic diseases affecting the central nervous system. Roche had already participated in Minoryx's Early Stage Series A financing round in 2015.
In 2017 it also invested in another Early Stage Series A round, this time in the French biotech startup Vivet Therapeutics. This round had a total amount of €37.5 million, the investment was led jointly by Novartis Venture Fund and Columbus Venture Partners, with Roche taking a minority stake.
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