Omega Funds, a Boston, MA-based international healthcare venture capital firm focused on delivering impactful medicines to patients, closed its seventh fund with $650m in limited partner capital commitments.
The new fund, Omega Fund VII, L.P., exceeded the firm’s targeted raise of $500m, and included support from both new and existing limited partners.
With Fund VII, the firm will continue to execute on its strategy of creating and investing in life sciences companies in the US and Europe that target severe, unmet medical needs. Since its inception in 2004, Omega Funds has raised close to $2 billion to invest in entrepreneurs developing innovative products across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, rare diseases, and precision medicine.
Fund VII is stage-agnostic and is expected to be deployed across companies in the U.S. and Europe. Similar to past funds, investments will include a variety of investment approaches, from company creation to early venture rounds and later-stage financings.
Led by Otello Stampacchia, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director, Omega has made investments which have contributed to 39 portfolio company public listings and 35 portfolio company exits via M&A. Recent public offerings and exits include Theseus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: THRX), Adagio Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ADGI), Icosavax (NASDAQ: ICVX), Imago BioSciences (NASDAQ: IMGO), Ikena Oncology (NASDAQ: IKNA), Nuvation Bio (NYSE: NUVB), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Prevail Therapeutics (acquired by Eli Lilly) and Kronos Bio (NASDAQ: KRON).
In addition, the firm added Mike Powell, Ph.D., who joined in August 2021 from Sofinnova Investments, where he served as Managing General Partner since 1997. Previously, Powell was Group Leader at Genentech, where his focus was on drug delivery, CMC, and formulation of both small molecule and protein drug entities. He was previously Board President of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, and past advisor to the Institute for One World Health, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Powell is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas, and also serves on the Board of Trustees at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto, and completed his postdoctoral studies in BioOrganic Chemistry at the University of California.
Omega also promoted Francesco Draetta, CFA, CAIA, who began his career at the firm as an Analyst from 2008 to 2012, and then rejoined in 2016 as a Principal. He focuses on private company investments and fundraising for the firm. Mr. Draetta currently serves on the board of Chord Therapeutics and is Chief Financial Officer of Omega Alpha SPAC (NASDAQ: OMEG). Prior to rejoining Omega, Mr. Draetta was part of the investment team at Brookside Mezzanine Partners and at Commonfund Capital. Mr. Draetta graduated cum laude from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BBA in Finance and Operations Management.
FinSMEs
20/12/2021