Versant Ventures has secured about $134 million (US$100 million) in commitments for a new fund earmarked to finance Canada’s biotech startups.
In a news release, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm said Versant Voyageurs I will invest in five to eight companies in tandem with its primary life-sciences funds.
They include the US$600 million Versant Venture Capital VII, also announced today.
Versant said the Canadian sidecar fund aims to address a shortage of risk capital and other resources available to local life-sciences companies.
Managing Director Brad Bolzon, who will oversee the fund, said while Canada has “top-tier scientific infrastructure”, its VC and startup ecosystem has “not grown at the same pace.”
Bolzon says additional capital is needed to “more fully develop foundational discoveries underlying newly launched biotech companies.”
One of Versant Voyageurs’ anchor limited partners is Fonds de solidarité FTQ, which has long focused on life-sciences investing, especially in Québec’s fertile pharma sector.
Versant established a Canadian presence in 2013. Its activities have led to more than $936 million (US$700 million) invested in local startups by the firm, co-investors and strategic partners, Versant said.
Recent deals include last year’s US$68 million financing of Montréal precision oncology drugs maker Repare. Versant co-led the round with MPM Capital and was joined by Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Celgene, BDC Capital and others.
And in late 2016, Versant partnered with Bayer in a US$225 million financing of Toronto stem-cell-therapy platform BlueRock Therapeutics.
VC investing in Canadian biotech sectors slowed in 2018, relative to the peak activity reached over 2016-2017, according to Refinitiv data.
As of mid-December, $458 million has been deployed to 49 companies, less than half the $1.1 billion that went to 69 companies in the whole of last year.