”la Caixa” has strengthened financing instruments for innovative companies in early stages with the launch of a new venture capital fund, Caixa Innvierte Start. The vehicle, created in the framework of the INNVIERTE programme promoted by the CDTI (Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology) and managed through Caixa Capital Risc, the venture capital arm of ”la Caixa”, has been established with an initial endowment of 20 million Euros, which is expected to increase through public and private contributions.

The goal of Caixa Innvierte Start is to cover the financing needs of companies that are in the first stages of development. The fund will be aimed at start-ups that present a disruptive technology, a long maturity cycle (which needs at least two years to reach the market), and originate primarily in leading universities and research centres.

Caixa Innvierte Start works in the seed stage, a stage prior to when the majority of investors specialising in the scientific field are attracted. In this stage, companies are still being formed and need financing to face the challenge of validating their technology or scientific hypothesis, round out the team, and move forward in product development in order to capture the interest of specialist investors in the company’s development and growth stages. Start-ups are primarily focused on the scientific sector. Biotech is the main field, although others such as photonics, semiconductors, nanotech, etc. are certainly worth mentioning.

The vehicle’s investment range will be between 500,000 to 2 million Euros per operation. Funds will always be provided as capital contributions, taking a minority stake in the capital stock, and encouraging co-investments with specialised agents in the sector.

The first disbursement of the fund is Aelix, a spin-off of HIVACAT, dedicated to developing treatments against AIDS, which in the last few weeks has raised an 11.5-million Euro investment round with Ysios Capital, Caixa Capital Risc, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Experience and track record in science

Caixa Innvierte Start is the eighth venture capital fund driven by the ”la Caixa” venture capital firm. With this new vehicle, Caixa Capital Risc now manages an investment volume of 180 million Euros and solidifies itself as the leading multi-specialist investor in Spain for companies in the initial phases of activity.

The fund builds upon the solid experience and track record in the field of science. The firm develops its activity in this sector primarily through the Caixa Capital BioMed and Caixa Innvierte BioMed II funds, which, with a committed investment volume of 52 million Euros, have supported 19 Spanish scientific spin-offs to date.

“In 2007, Caixa Capital Risc was an unknown agent in this field, but has been consistent and constant in its development of a specialised multi-disciplinary team with relationships with the main research centres, hospitals, and universities across Spain and key contacts with technology specialists and specialised international investors,” states Marcelino Armenter, President of Caixa Capital Risc and CEO of CriteriaCaixa.

Science-based companies have long-maturing processes and need significant capital contributions. Caixa Capital Risc is knowledgeable about the characteristics of this sector and has the capacity to offer long-term accompaniment such that it can invest from the early stages through Caixa Innvierte Start until financing Series A and B through specialised vehicles.

Success stories

Caixa Capital Risc’s long-term strategy has solidified in the past few months in significant investment rounds that have attracted international investment.

Highlighted cases include Laboratoris Sanifit, focused on calcifications of the cardiovascular system, which has attracted 37 million Euros contributed by international funds, medical multinationals, specialist investors, and current shareholders; and Minoryx, dedicated to rare genetic diseases, whose last investment round has attracted 19.4 million Euros.

Programmes to support the transition from the laboratory to becoming a company

To date, there have been very few public/private initiatives and agents to support the creation of companies in this field. Added to this problem is the fact that those who meet the scientific profile often do not have entrepreneurial skills and experience, and neither is there a consolidated spin-off culture to transfer the results of research to a start-up.

This is why, the objective being to drive the transformation of this ecosystem, Caixa Capital Risc, together with the ”la Caixa” Foundation, promotes CaixaImpulse, a programme that supports the transfer of knowledge generated in research centres so that it may have a direct application on society at large.

This programme, which perfectly complements the investment strategy of the new fund, has invested in 15 projects in its first edition, giving them economic support, measured training, an accompaniment programme, and help for their immersion in the reality of the market.

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