Spain-based Asabys Partners has closed a fund of 180 million euros ($200 million), money that will go toward 12 to 15 companies in biopharma or medtech.
The fund is Asabys’ second and will be funneled toward life science companies, with money already invested in five companies, including Barcelona-based cytokine biotech Orikine Bio and Belgian neuro biotech Augustine Therapeutics.
Asabys announced the first closing of the fund—dubbed Sabadell Asabys Health Innovation Investments II (SAHII II)—in January 2023. That allowed the company to bring on new global and U.S. investors since its initial 117 million euro fund closed in 2022.
The firm's strategy is to finance biopharma, medical device and digital health companies working to create new solutions for unmet medical needs.
“The successful and oversubscribed close of our SAHII II fund allows us to continue investing in the Spanish life sciences ecosystem, while strategically broadening our focus to Europe and other global markets,” Clara Campàs, Ph.D., founding and managing partner at Asabys, said in a Sept. 26 release.
Since launching in 2018, Asabys has invested in 17 companies, including Fierce 15 winners Agomab Therapeutics in 2022 and Ona Therapeutics in 2020.
Though the biotech investment scene in Europe slowed somewhat following a COVID-19 funding sugar high back in 2021, an August report from PitchBook suggested venture capital firms across the pond could soon have more cash to spare.
The report focused on valuations in Europe broadly—not just in the life sciences—and found that VC trends seemed to be heading north.
Median deal sizes “continued to tick higher across all stages” in the first half of 2024, according to the report. In particular, AI is “buoying the dispersion in early and late stages,” though that did leave the question of how much other areas of the market were rebounding without the help of the “AI effect.”