2003/08/25 エヌ・アイ・エフ ベンチャーズ　

米国有力バイオテク・ベンチャーキャピタルのソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社との提携について

　この度、当社は米国サンフランシスコに本拠を置く有力バイオテク・ベンチャーキャピタルである、ソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社と提携したことをお知らせします。同時に、ソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社の運営するファンドへの出資を決定いたしました。
　この提携により、ソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社が入手する米国バイオ投資案件へのアクセス、並びに同社のデューデリジェンスにおける専門性を活用することが可能になります。
　ソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社は約３０年の歴史を誇る欧州大手ベンチャーキャピタルであるソフィノバＳ．Ａ．（仏）から１９９７年にバイアウトによる完全独立を果たしたベンチャーキャピタルで、バイオテクノロジー、並びに情報技術分野への投資を専門としております。同社のバイオテクノロジー・チームは元ジェネンテック社のシニア・マネジメントや、経験豊かなベンチャーキャピタリスト等から構成されており、臨床開発化合物をパイプラインに持つ企業に重点をおいた投資を行っています。

　当社は、グローバルなバイオ投資戦略の一環として、欧州においてバイオテク専門のベンチャーキャピタルであるマーリン・バイオサイエンシーズ社（英）や欧州大手ベンチャーキャピタルのＧＩＭＶ社（ベルギー）等と業務提携を行うことにより、既に質の高いバイオ投資案件へアクセスできるネットワークを構築してきました。今回のソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社との提携により、世界最大のバイオテク市場である米国においてもトップレベルの投資案件、特に治療ニーズが高い疾患領域における医薬品の開発企業へのアクセス、並びに共同投資が可能となります。
　また、今回の提携により、米国バイオテク投資案件の質的向上のみならず、免疫、代謝、中枢神経、癌などの領域における科学的デューデリジェンス支援、投資後のモニタリング等においてもソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社の専門性を活用することが可能となります。


〈ご参考〉　ソフィノバ・ベンチャーズ社の概要 Sofinnova Ventures

　

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エヌ・アイ・エフ ベンチャーズ　　　http://www.nif.co.jp/

　当社は1982年に創業し、以来20年にわたりベンチャー企業への投資・育成事業を通して国内及び海外における新たな事業の創出に寄与して来ました。当社はVC本来の機能としての資金供給のほか、20年におよぶ経験とノウハウを活かし、投資先企業に対してタイムリーなアドバイスを行ったり、また投資先企業のマネジメントチームのよき相談相手となりながら投資先を育業する、「知恵」と「愛情」に溢れたVCです。
　なお当社は、2002年3月にJASDAQ市場に株式を上場いたしました。この株式上場を機に当社の経営内容を広く開示することで、当社に対する内外投資家の信用は更に高まるものと考えております。

会社名		エヌ・アイ・エフ ベンチャーズ株式会社
本社		東京都中央区京橋1-2-1 大和八重洲ビル
資本金※		11,267 百万円（連結）
純資産※		20,456 百万円（連結）
投資残高※		83,846 百万円（連結）（プロパー＋組合）
※（2003 年3 月31 日現在）

沿革

1982 年 　 日本インベストメント・ファイナンス(株)設立
　 83 年 　 大和ファイナンス（株）設立
　 96 年 　 NIF Ventures USA, Inc.（米国）設立
2000 年 　大和ファイナンス(株)と合併し、社名をエヌ・アイ・エフ ベンチャーズ(株)に変更

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Sofinnova Ventures　　　http://www.sofinnova.com/

A Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firm with a unique French heritage

It all began for us thirty years ago when our original French parent firm, Sofinnova S.A., was founded by a group of French financial institutions that believed in the potential of venture investing. Indeed, Sofinnova S.A. was the first "American style" venture capital firm in France. Peter Brook, the founder of T.A. Associates, was a board member of Sofinnova S.A. in the early years. Sofinnova S.A. quickly established a presence in the European market through the formation of the Sofinnova Partners venture firm in Paris. Sofinnova S.A. owned this firm from 1972 until its spin-off in 1997.

Sofinnova S.A. launched U.S. investment funds in 1976, making it the first European venture company to enter the US market. Based in San Francisco, with Jean Deleage as first President and founder, Sofinnova S.A. was very successful in the U.S. market, being an early investor in stellar successes such as Tandem Computers and Genentech. Sofinnova S.A. decided in 1984 to leverage its unique trans-Atlantic positioning by creating a direct partnership presence in the U.S., and it created our current generation of funds, which are independent from the Paris team.

Alain Azan arrived in San Francisco in 1987 to take over management of SVP I, an experimental fund whose concept was to invest in French companies seeking to expand into the U.S. market. He soon refocused the strategy on investing primarily in U.S. early-stage startups. Alain was the senior partner throughout SVP I, II and III.

In 1997, the global Sofinnova organization restructured into two independent management teams, Sofinnova Partners in Paris and Sofinnova Ventures in San Francisco. Each firm became an independent venture capital firm with independent funds, teams, investment strategies and partnerships. Yet to this day, deal flow, expertise and information are shared, continuing our long history of mutual support for one another's respective portfolio companies.

As part of the restructuring and buyout, Alain recruited Mike Powell in the summer of 1997 and Robert Carr in the fall of 1997. Alain, Mike and Robert shared a vision to build a new phase in Sofinnova's history where the firm would be an early-stage, California-style VC firm that would use its unique French heritage and European contacts to bring value to its U.S. investments.

Since Sofinnova Ventures became independent in 1997, the firm has grown capital under management from $57 million to more than $450 million, and from two partners to its current size of five partners and two venture partners: Jim Healy joined the team in June 2000, followed by Eric Buatois in July 2001. Our Venture Partners Remy Aubert and Barry Selick joined in 2002.

Life Science Strategy

The biotechnology sector is a large part of the public and private equity markets. The aging of the population is an overriding theme for the last half of the 20th century and the first half of the 21st century. By the year 2030, nearly 30% of the population in developed countries will be over age sixty- the least healthy population segment. As a result, cancer, respiratory diseases, endocrine disorders, Alzheimer's and other central nervous system disorders will increase in prevalence.

The costs of these uncured diseases are expected to drive annual healthcare expenses in the U.S. to over $2.2 trillion, which represents 15% of the gross national product. Annual expenses on pharmaceuticals could exceed $200B within a decade. For many of these age-related diseases the amount of time required in clinical development has come down by 30-50% over the last decade. These demographic and economic factors and the maturing of the biotechnology industry create a strong foundation for investing in life sciences.

We focus our investments in two main areas: clinical-stage pharmaceutical product companies and drug discovery platform technology companies.

We take a balanced approach with our portfolio, investing in drugs, platforms and devices to treat mostly life-threatening diseases. We generally do not invest in services, tool-kits, diagnostics, or neutraceuticals.

Pharmaceutical Products
Sofinnova Ventures' primary area of investment focus in the life science area is clinical-stage pharmaceuticals. In the pharmaceutical industry the process of discovering, developing and launching a single successful new drug usually takes $85M, 14 years, and the ability to manage risk. Biotechnology companies backed by venture capitalists often shorten this timeline.

We focus on investing in companies with clinical-stage compounds. Optimal investment opportunities will have some proof of efficacy in humans prior to our investment. Many of these investments will be spinoffs of existing products from biopharmaceutical companies or involve products that have been developed through grants sponsored by the government.

Drug Discovery Platforms
This sector tends to follow the paradigm shifts that impact the biomedical research sector. For example, the investment trend was previously gene expression, then structural genomics, and now, functional genomics. Today, proteomics, or the study of protein expression and protein interactions, is replacing the field of genomics. Sofinnova Ventures invests in companies with breakthrough technologies that have the potential to corner a significant share of the market.

IT Strategy

The IT industry is unique in the opportunities it provides for new startup companies to create and profit from major new markets. Underlying innovations in fundamental hardware and software technologies create ever new cycles of dramatic new capabilities and performance levels at reduced cost, rendering previous technology generations obsolete and uncompetitive.

In short, today’s IT startup exploits new technologies to become tomorrow’s dominant IT industry giant. We specialize in investing in such companies.