Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD
Young and growing Irish healthcare and life sciences companies are to receive an investment of nearly €30m via a specialised American venture capital firm, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, has announced.
The Irish Government has helped convince the venture capital firm to set up in Ireland as part of the investment.
Enterprise Ireland and the National Pension Reserve Fund are depositing €30m into a fund that invests in young medical and life sciences companies. That money goes into venture capital firm Sofinnova Ventures, which is based in San Francisco, California.
Sofinnova will set up in Ireland and will invest in Irish life science and healthcare firms.
“Developing a dynamic venture capital industry in Ireland is a key part of this Government’s growth strategy,” Bruton said.
“Venture capital funds provide crucial funding, as well as mentoring and advice, to early-stage high-potential companies in key high-growth sectors. That is why the Programme for Government outlines the Government’s determination to support the development of a more dynamic venture capital industry in Ireland by seeking to attract top-tier venture capitalists to invest in Ireland, and why the Action Plan for Jobs commits to delivering a number of key measures to step up our performance in this area.
“Healthcare and life sciences is a sector which the Government has identified as having potential for high levels of employment growth, and today’s announcement will mean that more high-growth Irish companies can meet this leading life sciences fund.
“I am determined that, with implementation of good Government policies, we will see further development of a dynamic venture capital industry in Ireland. In this way, high-growth Irish companies will have access to the funding they need and we can help achieve the levels of growth we so badly need.”
Mike Powell, general partner of Sofinnova, added the company is pleased to welcome Enterprise Ireland and the National Pensions Reserve Board as Limited Partners to its next fund.
“They nicely complement the global and strong investor base we have in Sofinnova Ventures VIII,” Powell said.
“Ireland has produced several outstanding life science companies, including the Sofinnova portfolio company, Amarin Corporation. We look forward to continuing to build industry-leading companies for our investors”.
Bruton is currently on a trade, investment and St Patrick’s Day trip to California.
