image: From front left - CFO Lorna Collings, Investment Director Dr Sohaib Mir, Investment Director Dr Robert Balfour, CIO Dr Graeme Martin, Analyst Katie Sunnucks and CEO Alek Safarian (not pictured Investment Manager Julia Jones) view more
Credit: ALSA Ventures
London, UK - ALSA Ventures today announced first closing of its European biotechnology investment fund with commitments of US$59M. Established in 2019 by Alek Safarian, founder and ex-CEO of clinical CRO Novotech, the ALSA team has already made three European biotech investments which will now become portfolio companies in ALSA Ventures. The fund is targeting raising $150M in total, and has seen strong support from strategic investors.
"We see tremendous opportunity across the European biotech space. Our London based team comes with it a great deal of industry experience, and we aim to leverage this where possible, by helping preclinical biotechs accelerate their R&D into the clinic," said Safarian. This industry background is further exemplified by the firm's Chief Investment Officer, Dr Graeme Martin, who was previously CEO of Takeda Ventures, Inc. based in Palo Alto.
To date, the ALSA team has invested in UK based companies Epsilogen Ltd and Oxford Biotherapeutics, as well as the Belgian startup Montis Biosciences. Safarian further commented that the focus of the fund is novel therapeutics. "We're agnostic to modality or therapeutic area, but are targeting genuine breakthrough potential from discovery stage to late preclinical development."
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About ALSA Ventures http://www.alsaventures.com
ALSA Ventures is a Europe based biotechnology investor with a focus on novel therapeutics at preclinical POC or early clinical development stage. The firm was established in 2019, by Alek Safarian, founder and ex-CEO of clinical CRO, Novotech.