Bain Capital Raises $900 Million for Second Life-Sciences Fund
Bain Capital Raises $900 Million for Second Life-Sciences Fund
(Bloomberg) -- Bain Capital LP has raised $900 million for its second fund dedicated to life sciences, a sign that volatile market conditions haven’t diminished investors’ eagerness to back innovative medical companies.
The new fund will make between 15 and 20 investments in companies developing new drugs, medical devices, diagnostics and tools, according to Bain Capital Life Sciences’ managing directors, Adam Koppel and Jeffrey Schwartz. The unit previously raised $600 million in 2017 for its first fund, which has made 15 investments, including in biotechnology companies Solid Biosciences Inc. and neuroscience-focused Cerevel Therapeutics.
“We view health-care investing -- and life sciences especially -- as a multidecade-long secular growth opportunity,” Koppel said. “This will continue to be a growth area because this will continue to be a priority for people. People not only want to live longer, but they want to live healthier.”
Capital from around the world has flooded into the biotechnology industry as investors try to keep pace with scientific advances. Therapies such as cancer treatments that shrink tumors based on genetic markers have entered the medical mainstream, carrying price tags that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The excitement has translated into a boom in initial public offerings, private funding megarounds and record fundraising for investment firms focused on innovative health-care companies. Big players from beyond the biotech world are also taking notice: Private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP established its own life-science unit last year in order to make large-scale investments in the industry.
Bain’s new fund will pursue a number of strategies, including funding private companies on the verge of going public, as well as companies with drugs in the late stages of development that are in need of commercial infrastructure. It plans to deploy between $20 million and $100 million per investment.
The fund will also bring on Andrew Hack, who was formerly the chief financial officer of gene-editing company Editas Medicine Inc., as a managing director, and Bain Capital’s Ricky Sun as a partner. Bain also committed 20 percent of its own capital to the fund and typically invests in its own vehicles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Spalding in Boston at rspalding@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Timothy Annett, Mark Schoifet
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