Investment in biotechnology is booming. So far this year, in addition to the fact that several biotech companies such as Imbiomotion have received funding, Ysios, Spanish venture capital focused on the health sector, has raised capital for its fund and a new Caixa Impulse call has been opened.
New Caixa Impulse call for applications
Caixa Impulse is a programme developed by La Caixa Foundation, together with Caixa Capital Risc and international experts, to accompany and provide financial support for projects in the field of life sciences and health, proposed or presented by Spanish research centres that are owners or co-owners of protected assets or in the process of being protected.
The first edition was held last year and, as a result of its success, this year it will be held again but with a series of changes: the number of beneficiaries of the programme has been increased from 15 to 20; the amount of financial aid per project has been increased, which can reach 70,000 euros, and the period of accompaniment has been extended from 6 to 8 months.
This call, which has just opened in March, will be open until 15 July.
The projects submitted will enter a two-stage selection process: evaluation of the proposals by evaluators from the life and health sciences and the business world; and face-to-face interviews with a panel of European experts from different fields: pharmaceuticals, business schools, health and biotech companies.
Sodena invests in TedCas
TedCas es una empresa tecnológica del sector de la salud que ha desarrollado la solución plug&play TedCube, que revoluciona el acceso y manejo de la información médica en quirófanos ofreciendo una autonomía al cirujano en el uso de sus equipos durante sus operaciones. El equipo permite, mediante control gestual y comandos de voz, manejar diferentes dispositivos en quirófano, lo que se traduce en mayor asepsia, ahorro de tiempos y costes y mejora de la seguridad del paciente evitando el desvío del foco de la actividad del cirujano.
Sodena, which had already invested in TedCas in 2013, has strengthened its participation in the company, leading a new round of funding, which exceeds €500,000. The following have also joined the operation as new partners Start Up Capital Navarre (vehículo gestionado por Sodena y en el que participan 23 empresas e instituciones a favor del emprendimiento en Navarra), que accede como socio financiero con un 2,19%, junto a inversores privados, algunos pertenecientes a la red Crecer+ (promovida por Orkestra-Basque Competitiveness Institute).
The main objective of the round is to boost its commercial activity and scale its business in Europe. To this end, TedCas will reinforce its current management team with the incorporation of high-level executives, all of them with extensive commercial and business development experience in the medical sector.
Ysios Capital adds new investors to its fund
The biotech venture capital firm has added new investors to its fund. YsiosBioFundIIincluding the Banco Sabadell and some pension funds.
Since its launch in 2014, Ysios has reached €80M and aims to reach €100M by the end of the year.
Ysios has participated in the largest financing rounds ever held in Spain, such as the one closed by Sanifit or Minoryx in 2015.
Ysios Capital's partners - Joël Jean-Mairet, former minister Cristina Garmendia, Karen Wagner, Julia Salaverria and Josep Lluís Sanfeliu - say that part of the good reception of the second fund is due to the success of the first. "The business plan has been fulfilled by 99.9%," they say. Ysios BioFund I is now in the divestment phase. For now it is reaping a seven-year return of 48% and a multiple of 2.8 times invested capital. "A good return in the sector is 15%," they say. The fund still holds eight active firms in its portfolio.
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