Life Sciences Fund
Amsterdam
The Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam is established in January 2009. Its goal is to provide investment capital to fund biomedical entrepreneurial activity in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The fund targets companies that are developing commercially promising products and the technologies in life sciences, including: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology, medical devices and other high technology opportunities that offer venture capital returns.
The fund focuses on seed and early stage companies, but also on pre-seed commercially viable academic projects. The benefits of this early funding means that emerging medical breakthroughs in research and technology businesses can be sustained by sufficient venture capital to optimize their chances of success and ultimately provide revenue to the fund’s investors and the research groups involved. Once these companies are established with seed funding, the Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam will seek to work with other traditional venture capital companies to partner in the effort to advance these technologies.
The Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam collaborates closely with the Life Sciences Centre Amsterdam. In the Life Sciences Centre Amsterdam, the Technology Transfer Offices of the capital’s leading institutions have joined forces to commercialize their combined life sciences research results for the public good. Licensing opportunities, expertise centers, patient cohorts, biobanks, facility and tools from the University of Amsterdam/Academic Medical Center, the VU University/Academic Medical Center, the Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation, and the Netherlands Cancer Institute are combined in the Life Sciences Center Amsterdam.
By combining the resources of the Life Sciences Centre Amsterdam and the Life Sciences Fund Amsterdam, the fund is able to facilitate the transfer of technology to the private sector and to provide emerging technology companies and university researchers with vital seed funding and specialized financial and technical assistance. Furthermore, the creation of these new spin-out companies, benefits local economic development and has created many new jobs in the region.