Antoine Papiernik Appointed Chairman Of Sofinnova Partners

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences, has appointed Antoine Papiernik as Chairman. Papiernik succeeds Denis Lucquin who remains a Managing Partner. The appointment starts a new chapter in Sofinnova Partners’ growth strategy.

Antoine Papiernik joined Sofinnova Partners in 1997 and has a proven track record investing in companies that have gone on to be publicly listed on international exchanges or been acquired by leading players in the sector. He has been the lead investor in public companies like Actelion, ProQR, NovusPharma, Movetis, Mainstay, Pixium Vision and Stentys which have listed on a wide range of exchanges including the Zürich stock exchange, NASDAQ, Milan’s Nuovo Mercato, Euronext Brussels, the Dublin stock exchange and Euronext Paris. He was also the lead investor at inception of CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi) and Ethical Oncology Science (sold to Clovis Oncology). He is currently the lead investor and sits on the Board of Gecko Biomedical, MD Start, Shockwave Medical, Rgenix, Corwave, and Reflexion Medical. Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. In 2012 and 2011, he was selected by Forbes for its “Midas List” of the world’s top 100 venture capital investors.

Denis Lucquin said: “Passing on the responsibilities of Chairman in a partnership is a crucial event, and I have full confidence in Antoine taking on this role. Sofinnova Partners is entering a new phase, and the timing is perfect for this change. Antoine stands out for his investment track record and has become a key personality in the world of venture capital, in Europe as well as in the United States. He is also a talented team leader. Antoine has exactly what it takes to drive Sofinnova Partner’s future development.”

Antoine Papiernik added: “It is a great honor to succeed Denis. In the past ten years, under his chairmanship, we successfully completed the firm’s strategic refocus on its core business: Life Sciences investments. Thanks to our investors’ confidence, we significantly grew our assets under management, which today total more than 1.6 billion euros. Moving forward our vision for Sofinnova Partners entails growing our activity and further strengthening our leading position in Life Sciences investments.”

Sofinnova Partners’ recent achievements include numerous successes: exits for a total enterprise value worth more than 4 billion euros over the past four years, thanks to 10 IPOs and several M&As, such as Delinia which was sold to Celgene in January 2017 for a total enterprise value of $775 million (€725 million).

In the coming years, Sofinnova Partners will further expand its coverage of the Life Sciences sector, with dedicated teams and investment vehicles. Following the closing in December 2015 of its Capital VIII Fund (€300 million) dedicated to early stage healthcare investments, Sofinnova Partners has recently achieved a first close at €106 million of its IB I Fund, entirely dedicated to industrial biotech investments. Other healthcare-related funds are currently under review. With 29 people and 10 different nationalities, Sofinnova Partners’ team is remarkably international. As its growth strategy develops, the firm plans on expanding its team with a significant number of new hires in the next two years.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, the firm focuses on paradigm shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners seeks to invest as a founding and lead investor in start-ups and corporate spin-offs, and has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 40 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €1.6 billion under management.

For more information, please visit: www.sofinnova.fr