European investment group closes €260M raise for dementia fund

Healthcare investment group EQT Life Sciences raised approximately €260 million to invest in companies working on neurodegenerative diseases.

The original target fund size was €100 million, but the fund surpassed that, hitting the hard cap at €260 million. The fund will be used to invest in companies developing drugs and medical technologies.

Investors included the Alzheimer’s Association, the European Investment Fund, “several” unnamed global pharmas, as well as endowments and foundations.

The plan is to invest in 10 to 15 companies total, and it’s already invested in a handful, including: NewAmsterdam Pharma for cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease; Muna Therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s; both AviadoBio and QurAlis for frontotemporal dementia and ALS; and Nobi for care solutions in nursing homes.

Part of the motivation stems from how dementia is underfunded compared to cancer, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular disease, despite 54 million people being affected by the disease worldwide, the firm said.

René Kuijten

“We strongly believe that neurodegenerative diseases are the next big challenge after oncology and cardiovascular diseases,” said René Kuijten, partner and head of EQT Life Sciences, in a statement. “With this fund, EQT Life Sciences is now in a strong position to support companies at the cutting-edge of battling this disease.”

Philip Scheltens, professor emeritus at Amsterdam University Medical Center, is leading the fund’s investment team.

EQT Life Sciences was born in 2022 when EQT, a private investment group, bought out the European investment firm Life Science Partners. Before EQT bought out the firm, it focused on spinouts from universities that had large portfolios.

EQT had its own series of big deals as well. Its private equity fund, called EQT X, inked a $3 billion deal last year with Mubadala Investment Company to buy Envirotainer, a temperature-controlled supply chain provider to better transport biopharmaceutical products and ingredients.

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