AVCJ Awards: Fundraising of the Year - Venture Capital: Lilly Asia Ventures

China-focused Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) closed its fourth healthcare-focused fund – LAV Biosciences Fund IV – earlier this within two months of launch, hitting the hard cap of $450 million. US institutional investors account for the majority of the corpus, with the rest coming from Asia and the Middle East.

LAV was established in 2008 as a corporate VC arm of global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, focusing on life sciences investments in Asia. In 2011, it became independent. Fund III, which closed in April 2015 at $300 million, received commitments from a mixture of sovereign wealth funds, fund-of-funds and family offices.

With a primary focus on pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and diagnostics, LAV invests in everything from greenfield projects to pre-IPO rounds. Most target companies are based in China, although the GP will consider US investments that are likely to have a significant impact on the Chinese market. The cross-border strategy also reflects the fact that healthcare is a global play, with the convergence of technology from China and the US. Most biotech companies, for example, would nowadays opt to set up R&D centers in both countries as a means accessing advanced technology and distribution channels.

Since Fund III, LAV has pursued an incubation model whereby the GP launches new start-ups internally or backs entrepreneurs who join as venture partners. At present, there are five venture partners, two of whom have founded start-ups that have received funding from LAV. They include Veritas Genetics and Just Biotherapeutics China, both of which were co-founded by Jonathan Zhao, a venture partner who previously led Asia strategy for Amgen and Pfizer.

The larger corpus for Fund IV means LAV can deploy more capital in early and growth-stage deals. Recent investments from the fund include participation in a $63 million round for US-based drug developer E-Scape Bio, which focuses on treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

Pictured: Wendy Luo of Lilly Asia Ventures with HQ Capital's David Pierce

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Healthcare
• GPs
• AVCJ Awards
• Lilly Asia Ventures