Sabadell Asabys has strengthened the international profile of its investments with the entry into Gradient, a French company in which it has led a round of 14 million euros and which has become its sixth global investee, after Cara Care , Koa Health, Medasense, Sidekick and Agomab.
The manager co-invests in Gradient with Sofinnova, the largest biomedical venture capital fund in Europe, with assets of 2.5 billion euros, with which they are already partners in the Catalan biotech Nuage Therapeutics. “In Europe, there are few large funds that invest in the health sector – points out Sylvain Sachot, partner of Asabys Partners – and these international collaborations allow us to get to know each other better, gain trust and make it easier for the funds to enter companies later where are we now”.
Internationalization, says Sachot, is feasible because “in the end all our companies are global, because they respond to a global health problem. Our specialization is not geographical, but by sector: we are strong in medical devices while others focus more on biopharmaceuticals”.
Gradient Denervation Technologies, Asabys’ new investee, develops a catheter to treat pulmonary hypertension in patients with severe heart failure, who now have no alternative but a transplant. Sachot points out that this is a series A round (the first that takes place after the company is established), in which, in addition to Sofinnova, Thuja Capital participates. The round, he pointed out, will make it possible to carry out a first proof of concept of this technology in Europe, in a trial with 25 patients, and next year a clinical trial in the United States, for which they have already reached an agreement with the health authority, the FDA.
Asabys is a venture capital manager in which Alantra participates and which has Banco Sabadell as an anchor investor. The company, founded by Josep Lluís Sanfeliu and Clara Campàs in 2018, has close to 217 million euros of assets under management and 14 investees, while another has already been divested.
The group enters Gradient with the second fund, Sabadell Asabys II, which is still financing. “We have made a first closing of 100 million euros, which we hope to increase to reach 150 million euros at the beginning of 2024”, said Sachot. This figure is below the initial forecasts of the manager, who aspired to reach 200 million, due to the change in the financial conditions of the last two years. This fund has already invested in two Barcelona companies (DeepUll and OrikineBio).
