Goldman Sachs Asset Management has raised $650m for a new fund, the West Street Life Sciences 1 (Life Sciences 1), which will invest in startups related to the life sciences sector.
The fundraising is said to be one of the largest first-time private life sciences growth funds.
It was closed above its target and received commitments from a diverse group of institutional, strategic, and high-net-worth investors and Goldman Sachs employees.
The West Street Life Sciences 1 is managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Life Sciences Investing Group, which was established in 2021 and led by Amit Sinha.
The fund will specifically target early to mid-stage therapeutic companies with multi-asset portfolios along with companies producing life sciences tools and diagnostics.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management life sciences investing head Amit Sinha said: “We are in a golden era of innovation in the life sciences, where technological breakthroughs are creating new approaches to diagnosing and treating disease.
“We believe the current environment provides an attractive opportunity for investing in the next generation of leading life sciences companies. Through our global platform, we seek to be a capital provider of choice and help our companies realise their full potential.”
The team at Life Sciences Investing group has professionals with decades of experience in the sector, who will use the Goldman Sachs platform and partner with other companies.
The team is complemented by an Advisory Board comprised of academics, clinicians, scientific experts, and entrepreneurs with an average industry experience of more than 24 years.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has identified several themes that are believed to drive significant growth in the coming decades.
The themes include precision medicine, genetic medicine, cell therapy, immunotherapy, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence.
Life Sciences 1 is committed to investing around $90m across five life sciences companies, MOMA Therapeutics, Nested Therapeutics, TORL Biotherapeutics, Septerna and Rapport Therapeutics.
Goldman Sachs asset and wealth management global head Marc Nachmann said: “Life sciences represents one of the most exciting areas in the private investing landscape, with advances in technology transforming healthcare at an unprecedented pace.
“We have a long history of partnering with companies in this space and look forward to bringing the full resources of Goldman Sachs to world-class management teams who are driving progress in the industry.”
