LSP, a European investment firm that provides financing for life sciences and healthcare companies, has announced the closure of its flagship fund LSP 7 at over EUR 1 billion. The fund raised over $1 billion, making it the largest life sciences venture capital fund raised in Europe to date.

The fund will be used to invest in companies developing new drug therapies and medical technologies to help ensure that their scientific innovations benefit patients. LSP 7 is backed by five pharmaceutical companies, with four from Asia and one from the U.S. The firm expects to invest LSP 7 in 15-20 companies, with four investments, Evommune, Egle Therapeutics, Hotspot, and an undisclosed radiotherapy company, already completed.

The fund received a large investment in November of last year after LSP announced its intention to join forces with global private equity firm EQT, reaching its hard cap of EUR 1 billion. “This investment immediately validates a key rationale for joining EQT: with EQT, we expect that we will be able to raise large funds much faster, serving the life sciences in Europe even better than before,” said René Kuijten, managing partner of LSP and incoming head of EQT Life Sciences. The transaction with EQT is expected to close in Q1 2022, and LSP will then be renamed to EQT Life Sciences.