RMG completes $64m. Israel-based biopharma investment fund
There are currently more than 1,200 companies in the Israeli healthcare market, including 200 in the field of pharma, according to data supplied by Start-Up Nation Central.
By EYTAN HALONRM Global partner Yaron Breski (L) and RM Global (Israel Office) managing director Assaf Keret(photo credit: ADI COHEN ZEDEK)
New York-headquartered investment bank RM Global Partners (RMG) has completed the closure of a $64 million Israel-based biopharma investment fund.Institutional, family office and strategic life science investors from South Korea, the United States, Europe and Israel have joined the RMGP Biopharma Investment Fund, the company said.The fund's portfolio consists of 11 start-ups operating at the Ness Ziona-based FutuRx biotech accelerator, an initiative to transform breakthrough biopharma discoveries into novel medicines.The accelerator, a 1,200 square-meter facility with offices and laboratories, is a partnership between Johnson & Johnson, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and OrbiMed, in cooperation with the Israel Innovation Authority."That institutional and strategic investors from the US, Europe and Israel have joined existing and new investors from South Korea, represents an important vote of international confidence in RMG's efforts," said Yaron Breski, a partner at RMG."We thank those investors and continue to focus our efforts toward FutuRx and its partners' work in developing breakthrough biopharmaceutical therapeutics."There are currently more than 1,200 companies in the Israeli healthcare market, including 200 in the field of pharma, according to data supplied by Start-Up Nation Central.In 2018, healthcare-related technologies accounted for almost one-quarter of the companies in the Israeli hi-tech ecosystem. Healthcare companies received almost $900 million in investments, and recorded a number of strategic exits, including the sale of biopharmaceutical company 89Bio for $60m."Our nearly two years of successful cooperation with RMG has resulted in more than ten investments into the FutuRx portfolio and increasing strength in the incubator's provision of key resources and support to its portfolio companies," said FutuRx CEO Dr. Kinneret Savitzky."Moreover, the collaboration with RMG and its international financial and strategic investors provides important validation of the FutuRx model and its potential to develop innovative therapeutics."
