Germany-based Earlybird Well being introduced the ultimate closing of its second fund of €173 million (round $185 million). That is greater than twice the dimensions of Earlybird‘s first healthcare-focused fund, Well being I, which reached €85 million at ultimate closing.
Whereas each funds are related in funding thesis and stage, this can allow Earlybird Well being to put in writing bigger checks. Because it plans to predominantly put money into Europe, together with the U.Ok., this may very well be excellent news for healthtech startups within the area, a lot of that are working out of money after the autumn of telehealth firm Babylon.
Nonetheless, there’s much more to well being and higher affected person outcomes than digitalization; Earlybird Well being’s focus encompasses medical gadgets, diagnostics options, R&D instruments and biopharma. The latter already resulted in an IPO for Earlybird Well being’s first fund when eye care firm Oculis went public on NASDAQ in March 2023.
Earlybird Well being’s present portfolio additionally contains Priothera, whose co-founder Florent Gros joined the fund as a companion in 2022.
One other newcomer in Earlybird Well being’s world is proscribed companion British Affected person Capital, a subsidiary of state-owned British Enterprise Financial institution. It joins a variety of LPs that additionally consists of BARMER, one among Germany’s largest public medical health insurance suppliers. Based on Earlybird Well being, it was the primary of such insurers to put money into a VC fund when it backed Well being I.
“Having well being insurers as cornerstone buyers permits us to grasp and deal with key affected person wants by supporting progressive healthcare,” stated Thom Rasche, a companion at Earlybird Well being.
For portfolio corporations, this kind of LPs additionally opens the door to “insights into probably the most promising angles for commercialization and potential direct endorsement,” Rasche stated, citing the collaboration between BARMER and portfolio corporations iSTAR Medical, Noscendo and Wellabe.
Whereas Earlybird Well being has its personal crew of 10 individuals, it additionally has entry to Eagle Eye, an in-house AI instrument shared throughout Earlybird and its different independently managed funds. From uncovering stealth mode corporations to different alternatives, Earlybird Well being principal Christoph Massner expects it is going to assist the fund’s deal sourcing and due diligence course of be extra environment friendly and extra inclusive.
Inclusion is a part of the ESG objectives that Earlybird Well being dedicated to, as detailed in its inaugural 2022 impression and ESG report. As an article 8 fund beneath the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), it sees these efforts as a “core half” of its day by day actions, “whether or not investing or basic operations,” companion Lionel Carnot stated. Forward of the discharge of the fund’s 2023 report, he disclosed that two portfolio corporations additionally “developed and applied an ESG technique in 2023” because of its push.
