TVM Capital to Focus on Life Science Venture and Healthcare Private Equity Investing Only

During BioEurope 2013 in Vienna, TVM Capital announced that it will sharpen its investment focus and exclusively finance innovation in biopharmaceuticals and medical technologies through its venture capital team based in Munich and Montreal and invest in innovative healthcare delivery companies through its private equity team based in Dubai. From end of 2013 onwards, TVM Capital will not make new investments in information technology companies anymore.

Dr. Helmut Schühsler, Chairman of TVM Capital comments: “In our 30 year history we have worked in a very dynamic environment in Europe and the U.S., and have lived through several bull and bear markets in our target industries. Today, we witness an early stage life science industry under pressure from declining returns, higher regulatory hurdles, and a lack of venture capital. At the same time, we experience a significant opportunity through the rapid ascension of emerging markets to become attractive investment geographies for healthcare private equity. Several times during these 30 years we have seen the need to adjust our strategy and to change the way we do business. I am personally proud of the evolution of our firm into a global investor in innovation for patients with great return opportunities. We continue to get strong support from entrepreneurs, institutional investors and large corporations. Personal credibility, commitment and sincerity drive this business like nothing else. This is what TVM Capital stood for in the past and will stand for in the future.”

TVM Capital in Life Science Venture Capital
Dr. Hubert Birner, who leads the TVM Capital Life Science Venture activities together with fellow Managing Partner Dr. Luc Marengere based in Montreal, states: “We continue to invest in Germany, Europe, Canada and the U.S., with our dedicated team of currently nine investment professionals based in Montreal and Munich. In recent years we have changed our venture capital business model to address obvious issues in capital efficiency, product quality and timelines that have haunted our industry for quite some time now. We believe our new investment approach offers very attractive features to academic institutions, founders and entrepreneurs as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that are seeking out-licensing partners. Our new fund gives us the opportunity to invest in exciting life science opportunities at a time when capital is scarce and opportunities are abundant in our preferred investment geographies and beyond.”

TVM Capital’s most recent Life Science Venture Capital Fund, TVM Life Science Ventures VII’s stated aim is to invest in single assets that are either licensed or assigned to individual Project-focused Companies (PFCs), with each asset developed by experienced part-time managers. TVM Capital’s strategic relationship with Eli Lilly and Company enables the fund’s project focused companies to select Chorus, Lilly’s independently operating early phase virtual drug development arm which designs and executes lean and innovative drug development plans to efficiently progress molecules from candidate selection to clinical proof of concept. This is a unique feature of the fund’s strategy. To date, the new fund has closed on two investments with Kaneq Biosciences Ltd and Ixchelsis Ltd. Both companies will present at BioEurope. In addition to the single asset investment approach, TVM LSV VII will also invest in more traditional ventures, such as biotechnology platform companies or medical technology companies, where the firm will syndicate deals with its peers in the industry. Of note, TVM Capital Life Science is developing a growing focus on Asia and recently entered into a number of collaborations in Korea including one with the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF).

TVM Capital in Healthcare Private Equity
TVM Capital MENA targets the growing investment opportunity in private sector healthcare across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Turkey and India. TVM Capital MENA is led by Dr. Helmut Schühsler and consists of a team of four investment professionals and more than five executives-in-residence, based in Dubai. The firm enjoys continuously increasing, high quality and in many cases “proprietary” deal flow, and has the proven ability to conceptualize and develop new investment opportunities to address market gaps in healthcare delivery as well as bring top-rated Western service providers/operators as well as products to the MENA region and create and grow exciting companies locally. Very recently, TVM Capital MENA announced a clinical performance partnership with Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, the official teaching partner of the Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). TVM Capital MENA has to date invested in four companies, three are in the broad field of long-term care, home care and fertility. These four companies established their initial operations in the UAE and in the case of our fertility clinic, Bourn Hall International, also North and South India. They are now all in the process of expanding their businesses into other and adjacent regions/countries, such as other states in India, as well as countries in the Middle East, such as Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. The portfolio companies are on average 25 months old, but already employ close to 500 healthcare professionals and have 2013 revenues of about US$40 million.