BioPharma

VC Firm SR One Closes $600M Fund to Build ‘Elite Biotechnology Companies’

SR One’s new investment fund is its second one since spinning out of GSK in 2020. The firm says it now has more than $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Venture capital firm SR One has closed a new $600 million fund, exceeding the target it set by $100 million.

The new fund announced Monday is SR One’s second since spinning out of GSK to become an independent investment firm. Investors in the firm’s new fund include endowments, foundations, pharmaceutical companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices.

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SR One was founded in 1985 as the corporate venture arm of GSK, with members of its team located in both the U.S. and the U.K. In late 2020, SR One completed its spinoff from the British pharmaceutical giant and announced the close of its first fund, totaling $500 million. GSK was the largest investor in that fund, which deployed its cash to biotech companies in the U.S. and Europe. The firm says it has invested in more than 20 companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Its portfolio companies include cancer and immunology biotech Odyssey Therapeutics and cancer drug developer Rezo Therapeutics.

With the second fund, SR One says it will continue to invest in biotech companies that have the potential to address significant gaps in current treatment. The firm, which is based in Redwood City, California, and has additional offices in the Philadelphia area and London, says its assets under management now top $1.5 billion.

“SR One’s model is built upon active collaboration and our ability to roll up our sleeves and help build value through multiple inflection points,” Simeon George, SR One co-founder and CEO said in a prepared statement. “We seek to partner with entrepreneurs building elite biotechnology companies, and we look forward to the potential development of new medicines for patients that Fund II may help bring to the market.”

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