Healthcare investment firm Vivo Capital has closed an RMB-denominated fund at almost 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to leverage global resources and fuel the growth of its Chinese portfolio.
The China-focused fund, dubbed ‘Vivo (Suzhou) Health Industry Investment Fund’, attracted capital commitments from local government guidance funds in China, insurance companies, commercial banks, and institutional industry investors, Vivo Capital announced in a post on its WeChat official account on Wednesday.
The new fund looks to invest in pharmaceutical R&D, including the development of innovative drugs, and the production of related medical instruments, diagnostic and clinical medical devices, as well as medical consumables. Its focused sectors also include outsourced drug R&D and manufacturing services, synthetic biology, and other general healthcare services.
It will primarily make private equity (PE) investments, mostly growth equity financing and mergers & acquisitions (M&A), in addition to a small coverage to venture capital (VC) deals.
Vivo Capital closed the new RMB fund about 19 months after a first close at 4 billion yuan ($559.8 million) in May 2022.
The launch of Vivo Capital’s RMB fund is “a natural result” after the firm’s 16 years of operations and investments in China and “an important symbol” of its localisation, said Shan Fu, Vivo Capital’s managing partner, co-CEO, and CEO of Greater China, during a Wednesday ceremony announcing the fund close.
Fu said biomedicine and healthcare will be two of China’s most vibrant and fastest-growing industries in the next two decades. “The industries show great promise for the growth of global Chinese companies,” he said.
Founded in 1996, Vivo Capital operates a diverse, multi-fund investment platform in venture capital, growth equity, buyout, and public equities. With about $7 billion in assets under management (AUM), the firm has raised 14 USD and RMB funds with a portfolio of over 340 public and private companies worldwide.
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the Vivo team comprises more than 50 professionals across offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore. The team invests broadly in healthcare across all fund strategies, covering biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services.
Vivo Capital’s portfolio companies in China include WuXi AppTec, one of Asia’s largest pharmaceutical R&D services platforms dual-listed on stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The firm is also a backer of Chinese vaccine developer Sinovac; China- and US-based commercial-stage biotech company ZaiLab; Lepu Biopharma, which focuses on oncology therapeutics; and Nasdaq-listed, clinical-stage biotech firm Legend Biotech.