On January 9th the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, announced the initial closing of Fountain Healthcare Partners II, L.P. with €85 million of committed capital. Enterprise Ireland has made a €15 million commitment to the Fund with the majority of the balance of funding coming from institutional investors the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and the European Investment Fund (EIF). 

This is the first fund to be established under the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2013-2018 following an open competitive call for expressions of interest. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to making further announcements under this scheme in the future. 

This is Fountain Healthcare Partners second Fund. The fund is a dedicated life sciences (specialty pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics) venture capital (VC) that is focused on investing in Irish and international companies. 

Over the lifetime of the Fund it is expected to make in the region of 10-15 investments. Enterprise Ireland clients previously backed by Fountain include Vivasure, Mainstay Medical and Neuravi.

Analysis of the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2007-2012 indicates that for every €100 million invested as part of the Scheme, more than €70 million of that is invested in Irish companies, with the creation of over 1,000 jobs here. 

For more details click on the full news release.