Europe’s Medicxi closes fund that is worth $449 million to make investments in life science platforms and projects in the pipeline.

The life science sector of Europe has lately seen a radical in the attention it gets from investors. A Silicon Valley Bank report that was released this Thursday also indicated an increase in life sciences investment in Europe, particularly in biopharma and diagnostics.

The fund named Medicxi III was closed on Friday amounting to 400 million Euros ($449 million). Spread over locations like London, Jersey, and Geneva, the firm’s new fund investors include Johnson & Johnson in the U.S and Novartis – the Swiss drug-maker along with the existing investors.

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The firm’s co-founder Francesco De Rubertis said:

“Medicxi III is one of the largest biotech funds in Europe and consolidates Medicxi’s position as a key operating platform for scientific entrepreneurs and drug hunters.”

The firm also announced that the new fund will be used to make investments in life sciences through private companies that are fully integrated and have an underlying platform or asset pipeline.

It further added that the size of the fund and the swiftness in generating it indicates the continued growth and maturity in the life sciences sector of Europe.

While Europe itself is home to some of the world’s best and largest drug-makers including the Swiss Novartis and Roche, Germany’s Bayer and Merck KGA, France’s Sanofi, and the United Kingdom’s GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca among others, and has several medical research centers, the landscape of biotech startups is still behind that of the United states’.

However, the investment that is pouring in is certainly making a huge difference regardless of the sector being far behind when compared with where the United States stands.

The Silicon Bank Valley also found out in its report that during the first half of this year, venture capital deals and investments rose from $1.8 billion in the year 2017 to $2.7 billion in 2018.

While the overall investment in the current year is expected to go below what it was in the preceding year, there is no question that Europe is showing a continuous positive trend.