capital firms sofinnova ventures and sofinnova partners . the name sofinnova is believed to be a contraction of the french soci t de financement de l innovation or innovation venture capital company . both firms trace their roots back to sofinnova sa an investment institution founded in paris in 1972 . the two firms have raised 4b since inception and shared a similar investment strategy of investing in the life science and technology sectors . the two sister firms distinguish themselves on the basis of their target geographies and have been fully independent since 1997 . sofinnova ventures has offices in menlo park ca and san diego ca and focuses largely on us biotech investments with 20 % allocation for europe . sofinnova partners is based in paris and focuses primarily on european biotech and cleantech investments with a similar reciprocal allocation for the us . sofinnova ventures and sofinnova partners have had historically some of the same limited partners and have co invested together in selected companies including flamel cerep genset actelion preglem movetis ascendis obseva auris and nucana . both firms work together in a collegial way to exchange information and due diligence in each other s respective geographies . the firms do not have an obligation to show each other deals or to co invest but historically have co invested together in 10 % of their collective investments . contents 1 sofinnova ventures usa 1.1 investments 2 sofinnova partners france 2.1 investments 3 history 3.1 1970s the founding of sofinnova 3.2 1980s the early growth of sofinnova 3.3 1990s the reorganization of sofinnova into sofinnova partners and sofinnova ventures 3.4 2000s the move to life science for sofinnova 3.5 2010s new growth initiatives at sofinnova 4 references 4.1 sofinnova ventures 4.2 sofinnova partners 5 external links sofinnova ventures usa edit sofinnova ventures type private industry private equity founded 1974 headquarters menlo park ca united states key people jim healy md phd mike powell phd anand mehra md lars ekman md david kabakoff phd dan welch cory freeland phd tommy nguyen md phd nathalie auber hooman shalavi charlotte shropshire alain azan retired jean deleage deceased products venture capital total assets 1.9 b 1 number of employees 20 website www.sofinnova.com sofinnova ventures is an independent venture capital firm based in menlo park with 1.9 b capital under management . 1 investments edit sofinnova ventures has been an active venture investor investing in some well known venture investments of the period . sofinnova invested in collagen aesthetics biogen genentech tandon tandem computers and printonix tumbleweed and phone.com . sofinnova ventures funded several of these as start ups that developed into large international companies . more recently sofinnova ventures has backed companies including millennium pharmaceuticals kosan biosciences actelion intermune seattle genetics cotherix threshold pharmaceuticals prestwick preglem movetis intellikine amarin corporation salveo and labrys . the san francisco office of sofinnova ventures was often remembered for having an original 18 ft. mosasaurus in the office of one of the managing partners mike powell . sofinnova ventures closed their san francisco office in 2011 and combined their bay area offices into a single office on sand hill road in menlo park . sofinnova ventures has raised several venture capital funds see table . the earlier funds svp i through v were predominantly information technology it wherein the later funds were predominantly life science focused . svp viii and ix were exclusively life science only with emphasis on phase 2 and 3 drug development . svp iv was sofinnova ventures initial fund after the reorganization of sofinnova in 1997 . each of the funds from svp v through svp ix exceeded the target raise and closed at the maximum amount as allowed by the limited partner agreements . year amount fund 1984 6m sofinnova venture partners i 1991 20m sofinnova venture partners ii 1994 31m sofinnova venture partners iii 1998 72m sofinnova venture partners iv 2000 210m sofinnova venture partners v 2003 250m sofinnova venture partners vi 2007 375m sofinnova venture partners vii 2011 440m sofinnova venture partners viii 2014 510m sofinnova venture partners ix source private equity intelligence and sofinnova . sofinnova partners france edit sofinnova partners type private industry private equity founded 1972 headquarters paris france key people denis lucquin antoine papiernik rafaele tordjman graziano seghezzi henrijette richter monique saulnier jean bernard schmidt retired jean deleage deceased products venture capital total assets 1.7 billion 1 website www.sofinnova.fr sofinnova partners is an independent venture capital firm based in paris with approximately 1.7 billion of capital . 1 the firm invests in early stage companies and corporate spin offs in clean technology and life science sofinnova has financed more than 460 companies in europe since inception 1972 of which more than 20 % have successfully completed an initial public offering and more than 20 % have been acquired by strategic buyers . investments edit following the separation of the two firms sofinnova partners completed fundraising for its third private equity fund sofinnova capital iii with 121m . among the investments in this fund are innate maximiles and novuspharma . sofinnova s fourth fund which raised 330m of capital made sofinnova one of the largest venture firms in europe at the time . in 2005 sofinnova partners was named fund of the year by private equity international and vc techno house of the year 2005 by the european venture capital journal evcj which described sofinnova s fundraising as the fundraising of the year 2005 . this fund invested in a number of companies including taptu . sofinnova partners has raised several venture capital funds see table . year amount fund 1989 38m sofinnova capital i 1994 47m sofinnova capital ii 1998 121m sofinnova capital iii 2001 330m sofinnova capital iv 2005 385m sofinnova capital v 2010 260m sofinnova capital vi 2012 240m sofinnova capital vii 2015 300m sofinnova capital viii source private equity intelligence and sofinnova history edit history of private equity and venture capital early history origins of modern private equity the 1980s leveraged buyout boom the 1990s leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble the 2000s dot com bubble to the credit crunch v t e 1970s the founding of sofinnova edit 1972 sofinnova was founded with the backing of several french financial institutions most notably cr dit national and was notable at the time for creating the first american style venture capital firm in france . peter brooke the founder of ta associates was a board member of sofinnova sa in its early years . sofinnova sa quickly established a presence in the european market through the formation of sofinnova partners in paris . sofinnova sa owned this firm from 1972 until 1997 . 1974 sofinnova became the first european venture company to enter the us market launching its us affiliate sofinnova inc sofinnova ventures . sofinnova co founder jean deleage who would later co found us venture firm burr egan deleage & co. was appointed the head of the us operation . sofinnova s us business gained attention for its role as an early backer of tandem computers and genentech in the early 1980s . 1976 sofinnova co founder jean deleage established the american subsidiary of sofinnova called sofinnova inc. in san francisco which eventually became sofinnova ventures . deleage departed sofinnova in 1979 to co found another venture capital firm burr egan deleage & co. . in 1981 working with deleage sofinnova developed a partnership with burr egan deleage & co. and ultimately other us firms . jean bernard schmidt who would later serve as chairman of sofinnova was named the head of us operations of sofinnova inc. 1980s the early growth of sofinnova edit 1985 sofinnova completed an initial public offering with a listing on the paris stock exchange . 1987 alain azan moved to san francisco to take over management of sofinnova ventures replacing jean bernard schmidt . schmidt would be named chairman of sofinnova retaining that position through 2007 . sofinnova ventures completed fundraising for svp i which was an private equity fund originally intended to invest in european companies expanding in the us . ultimately sofinnova venture partners would shift its focus toward investments in domestic us companies . 1989 sofinnova partners completed fundraising for sofinnova capital its first private equity fund in france with 38m of investor commitments . sofinnova s investments in this fund include genset corporation as well as cerep egide and flamel . 1990s the reorganization of sofinnova into sofinnova partners and sofinnova ventures edit 1993 sofinnova delisted itself from the paris exchange to raise capital privately through traditional private equity funds . prior to the 1997 reorganization sofinnova ventures raised three venture funds totaling 57m and sofinnova partners raised funds with 85m in commitments . 1997 the global sofinnova organization restructured formally creating two separate management companies one for sofinnova ventures and one for sofinnova partners . the reorganization was done on the basis of geography creating sofinnova ventures in the us and sofinnova partners in europe . following a management buyout each of the management companies was solely owned by its respective management teams . 2000s the move to life science for sofinnova edit 2000 sofinnova ventures hires jim healy md phd and together he and mike powell phd rebuilt the sofinnova ventures ls brand with focus on clinical stage drug development companies . 2003 sofinnova ventures started its eir executive partner program in life sciences with its first eir barry selick . following this several other eirs executive partners joined sofinnova ventures from then until 2015 including jeff stein david kabakoff bill ringo strategic advisor goro takeda jay shepard george horner lars ekman and dan welch . 2006 sofinnova ventures and sofinnova partners first sponsored the sofinnova biopharm partnering conference in japan headed up by sofinnova s goro takeda . in 2014 the conference teamed up with biotechnology industry organization making this the largest biopartnering meeting in japan . 2007 svp vii was raised which was sofinnova ventures first fund that was overwhelmingly focused on life science 80 % with emphasis on drug development . their next fund svp viii in 2011 was exclusively 100 % life science . at the same time sofinnova partners in paris moved from a balanced it ls venture firm to one that was predominantly focused on life science . 2008 sofinnova ventures made its last it investment enovix . the remaining it team was active for several years after this to monitor and monetize the final it investments . 2010s new growth initiatives at sofinnova edit 2010 sofinnova partners started their green seed fund and hired jo ko bobanovi to manage this new initiative . in 2012 this seed fund initiative was announced in conjunction with the sofinnova capital vii announcement . 2013 sofinnova ventures worked with general partner garheng kong to spin out a new fund called healthquest capital . hqc s mandate is to provide growth capital to companies transforming healthcare with a focus on companies other than drug development . hqc raised their second fund at 225m in 2016 and transitioned to further independence from the parent sofinnova ventures organization . references edit a b c d based on capital raised since inception . source private equity intelligence done deals venture capitalists tell their stories 2000 . p. 249 250 the new venturers inside the high stakes world of venture capital 1985 . p. 117 sofinnova sa public repurchase offering french sofinnova ventures edit sofinnova ventures . business week profile . distillations university of toronto sofinnova partners edit accent to expand with investment from sofinnova partners external links edit sofinnova ventures us company website sofinnova partners france company website v t e private equity and venture capital investment firms investment strategy venture growth mezzanine secondaries leveraged buyout history history of private equity and venture capital early history of private equity private equity in the 1980s private equity in the 1990s private equity in the 2000s investors angel investor corporate venture capital commercial bank crowdfunding institutional investor insurance company investment bank