January 3, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Leading European life sciences venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners announced it has raised €150 million (US$169.4 million) for its Sofinnova Industrial Biotech II Fund. 

Joško Bobanović, partner at Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Fund, commented, “We are grateful for the confidence demonstrated by our investors, a large majority of whom are returning and a significant number of new investors joining from across the globe, reflecting the growing importance and prioritization of this sector.”

With offices in Paris, London, and Milan, Sofinnova was a sustainability pioneer, launching its Sofinnova Green Seed Fund more than a decade ago. As part of this strategy, and as an early-stage environmental impact fund, the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech II Fund will continue to finance early-stage companies harnessing biotechnology to create sustainable solutions in the food, agriculture, chemical, and materials sectors.

“The fundraise attests to the success of our strategy over the past decade and the growing understanding of how biotech can help to address global environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, pollution, and food waste,” said Bobanović.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners has more than 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies toward its mission of creating global market leaders. Today, Sofinnova has more than €2.5 billion (US$2.6 billion) in capital under management. And under this umbrella, found in the portfolio of the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech II Fund, are a range of companies including:

Biotalys and Micropep Technologies: Two companies developing bio-based crop protection solutions;  

Afyren and Comet Bio: Two companies upcycling agricultural waste into chemicals, food, or feed ingredients;

DMC Biotechnologies, Protera, Biosyntia, and Microphyt: Companies using fermentation to create food ingredients; and 

DNA Script and EnginZyme: Two companies that are biologically producing new chemicals and materials.

Only weeks ago, in mid-December 2021, Sofinnova also led a $13 million Series A for Meiogenix, a Paris-based agricultural biotech company using gene and chromosome editing to create greater genetic diversity in our food and agricultural systems. 

Through its platform, Meiogenix has developed a novel approach to common challenges in agriculture, and key issues being faced by our global food systems and industries. By applying gene and chromosome editing technologies, Meiogenix is able to accelerate the natural generation of biodiversity through the mixing of parental genomes during plant reproduction.

With collaborations already in place with Cornell and Bayer, the Meiogenix platform is addressing the $50 billion commercial seed market and breeding capabilities of the world’s largest crops such as corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, and tomatoes.

At the time, Michael Krel, partner at Sofinnova Partners, and a key member of the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Funds, said, “This investment reflects our expanding interest in the application of biotech in agriculture.”

Bobanović noted that a large majority of the investors engaged in backing the Industrial Biotech II Fund are returning investors, while a significant portion are new investors joining from around the world, reflecting the mounting importance and prioritization of this investment class.

Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, added, “Sofinnova is a leader across the life sciences value chain and we were one of the first to see early on the power of biotechnology to create sustainable solutions. We have one of the most accomplished VC teams in industrial biotech and are now more empowered to continue doing what we have been doing for 50 years: Partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs to transform groundbreaking science into the businesses of the future.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com. 

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