Venture firm New Enterprise Associates made some massive waves today on news that it’s closed its fifteenth – and largest – fund, which holds $3.1 billion. And a huge swath of that – 30 to 40 percent, according to Fierce – could likely be allocated to the healthcare space.
MedCity News reported initially on NEA’s plans to raise funds – it filed a document with the SEC in January indicating a $2.5 billion fundraise:
It currently invests in a total of 96 companies in the healthcare sector, according to its website, as well as technology companies. Its active investments include 50 biopharma companies, 27 medical device businesses and 17 offering healthcare services, including Welltok andBetterDoctor. The company’s investment strategy invests across all stages from seed to even public companies.
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NEA’s broadly declared interest in the biopharma, healthcare services/IT and medical device spaces. That funding will range from seeding to providing larger funding amounts for clinical stage companies. Forbes writes:
NEA favors initial checks that would have been the size of a Series A a decade ago, $200,000 to $2.5 million initially, in a seed or early-stage round. But the firm’s large fund size means it can stretch its limits in later rounds to get more ownership when it gets a chance. And NEA has growth-stage experts who can write much larger checks for tens of millions when the firm thinks it’s spotted a proven winner.
Across all its funds, the Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley-based NEA has raised more than $17 billion over 38 years. Its most recent fund held similar heft – NEA raised a $2.6 billion fund in 2012.
Based on the firm’s history of healthcare spending, here’s where Fierce derived its estimate:
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Ex-MedImmune chief David Mott has played a high-profile role as one of NEA’s leading biotech investors.
Well known for its tech investments, Mott explained to FierceBiotech a few years ago that the venture group typically devotes 30% to 40% of each new fund to healthcare, with roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of that going into biopharma. Using that formula, Mott and his colleagues would have up to about $900 million to play with for drug development.
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